


It Felt Good On My Lips

by sterekandstonyanddestiel3ohmy



Series: We [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Alpha Natasha Romanov, Alpha Phil Coulson, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha Thor, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Bruce Banner, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Bucky Barnes, Omega Clint Barton, Omega Loki, Omega Tony Stark, Rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-08-08 19:49:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 35
Words: 38,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7770796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sterekandstonyanddestiel3ohmy/pseuds/sterekandstonyanddestiel3ohmy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint Barton had never thought any differently about alphas until he’d met his foster father. Terrified of the abuse he runs from his foster family, promising not to trust any more alphas for the rest of his life. But when he meets a caring stranger, Clint's whole world may changed once for all; for better...or for worse.</p><p>Thank you to Ilast for this summary!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Sadness Runs Through Him

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Chapter has rape in it but it is pretty clear where it is going to happen in the chapter and it goes until the end of the chapter. So if you don't want to read that part, feel free to skip it. There are also mentions of rape, drug use, and abuse and neglect.
> 
> Here is where I will outline everyone's ages and secondary genders (main characters unless some outline characters are in a chapter).
> 
> Clint Barton (17)-omega, Phil Coulson (28)-alpha, Tony Stark (23)-omega, Steve Rogers (25)-alpha, Bucky Barnes (27)-omega, Natasha Romanoff (22)-alpha, Bruce Banner (30)-beta, Thor Odinson (26)-alpha, Loki Odinson (23)-omega
> 
> All titles are names of songs and the italicized words are lyrics. Let me know if you find any mistakes, because nobody is correcting this for me. Updates come twice a week on Monday and Friday.

Part One

Chapter One: A Sadness Runs Through Him

_People are puppets, held together with string. There’s a beautiful sadness that runs through him; as he asked me to pray to a God he doesn't believe in._

He brings his shaking hands to reach into the bag on the counter top. He wraps cold fingers around the small box, pulling it out and ripping the top off. He grips onto the little piece of plastic inside the box and pulls it out, setting the box down and reading the instructions on the back of it. He carries out all of the instructions, and sets the piece of plastic on the counter as he waits for the results. He finally glances up at himself in the mirror. He looks like shit. His lip is hardly healing from it’s most recent splitting tear, his eye is painfully bruised. His hair is long and shaggy, from not being aloud to cut it for several months. He’s scarily skinny, when he lifts his shirt, he can see his ribs; something he hadn’t been able to do since he turned twelve.

A timer chimes on the counter, and he tears his eyes away from his reflection. He drops his shirt from his hands and picks the piece of plastic up again. There are two little blue lines. He hardly makes it to the toilet before vomiting noisily into it. He kneels there in front of the dirty toilet, vomiting until all he’s doing is dry heaving into the bowl. _What is he gonna do?_

He doesn’t have long to think about it, before he hears the front door open and loud voices arguing as his foster parents enter the house. He reacts quickly, getting up off the floor and flushing the toilet and grabbing the box and test, shoving them both into the bag and into the bag in the trash can near the toilet. He grabs that bag and ties it shut before rinsing his mouth out and washing his hands. He opens the door and quietly walks towards the kitchen, to use the back door to get to the trash out back. He doesn’t make it all the way out the door before his faster father enters the kitchen.

“Where do you think you’re going, dummy?” his foster father asks, and he sucks in a quick breath. He turns to look at the man questioning him.

The man is in his early fifties, and he looks much older. His hair, what little of it he has, is grey, though it used to be jet black, and is as close to a combover as it can be. His skin is pale and oily. He has a huge beer belly and usually wears sweat-stained white T-shirts and suspenders on his beat up jeans. Though he is used to his foster father, he finds himself wanting to vomit again just from looking at him. Knowing what he’d done, what was _inside him_. He shuddered as he held up his trash bag. “Just taking the trash out, is all.”

“Whatever, your mother is going out so make your way back in to say goodbye before we have our fun.” The man smirks his dirty smirk, and he feels dread pool in his gut. He nods and leaves, practically running to the trash can to throw the bag away before leaning against it, crying and holding his heaving stomach. It’s completely empty, so he knows he won’t be vomiting any time soon. But it doesn’t stop his stomach from trying to expel what it doesn’t have. Tears burn paths down his cheeks. When he finally feels his stomach give up it’s efforts, he dries his face with his hand and heads back to the house.

He says goodbye to his foster mother, wishing she’d stay. He knew, despite the fact that he had never actually told her, that she knew what her husband did to him nearly every day. She had never been around when it happened. She was thirty years old, but looked much older from several years of marriage with his foster father and from years of being addicted to heroin. She had long bottle blonde hair, that fell into loose curls. She often wore leather pants and boots and tank tops that showed off all of her cleavage. He knew she had been sold to his foster father like a sex slave. And he had forced her into marriage and had forced her to use drugs. Then they signed up to be foster parents. And, nearly two years ago, had been given Clint. The people told his foster parents that he was a really hard to place teenager, and that they probably wouldn’t have any luck with him. His foster father had simply smirked his dirty smirk and said he’d be able to manage him.

And he was right; raping a teenager nearly every day was an effective way to make him obedient.

Clint Barton had never thought any differently about alphas and betas and omegas before he’d met his foster father. He’d presented as an omega, much to everyone’s surprise. And he’d still remained the same sarcastic, defiant kid he’d always been. And he had friends who were all across the different secondary genders. And they had all been very different. The stereotypes didn’t always fit, and so Clint had never before had a reason to think that any secondary gender was worse than another. He had never feared alphas before his foster father.

But now, as he watched his foster mother drive her junk of a car down the street, he felt terrified. A large, sweaty hand clamped down on his shoulder, and then turned to grab him by the neck, right over his bonding glands. He pulled him down the hallway, to Clint’s room. He pushed Clint onto the dirty mattress, and started to undo his pants, pushing his suspenders off his shoulders as he stood above the teen. “ _Strip_ ,” he ordered. Clint’s hands started to shake again as he undid his jeans, trying to kick them off, along with his shoes and socks. His foster father loomed over him, already successfully stripped down, himself. He growled in frustration at Clint’s slowness and grabbed the teen’s boxers, pulling them off harshly, and ripping the boy’s shirt over his head. “Stupid omega,” he spat.

Then he was flipping Clint around on the mattress, and Clint struggled to get to his hands and knees, feeling humiliated as the alpha lined himself up at his entrance and pushed in with no warning. A loud yip of pain escaped Clint’s mouth, before he could stop himself, and he received a harsh slap across the face for it, and a dirty hand pressed against his mouth. “ _Quiet, bitch_. You omegas are so _stupid_ , so _sensitive_. All you omegas are good for is _sex_ and nothing more. You’re my _sex toy_ , Barton.” The alpha says all this while he thrusts into him, hard and rough and dry. Soon he is climaxing, and Clint is shaking even worse, knowing what comes next. He bites his tongue as he feels the alpha roughly pull his knot from him as soon as he comes down from his high, long before the knot deflates. He spits on Clint as he gets up, gathers his clothes, and leaves.

Clint silently cries as he gets up and grabs a rag from the closet, wiping at his ass, feeling cum and blood running from it.

_Don’t look at me with those eyes, I tired to unweave the ties, turn back the time that drew him. But he couldn’t be saved. No, he couldn’t be saved. A sadness runs through him._


	2. Run For Your Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, they'll get longer soon!
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of rape, drug use, and alcohol use.
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o

Part One

Chapter Two: Run For Your Life

_But this house is on fire, and we need to go. Woah, woah, you don’t have to go it alone, go it alone._

Clint goes through that pain one more time before his foster mother gets home. She won’t look him in the eye when she walks into the house and sees him walking funny. She simply cooks dinner without talking to him and goes to the living room to get high when dinner is over. Clint wants to scream, wants to yell at her and shake some sense into her. _He needs to do something! She should do something too._ His foster father sits on the couch next to his wife and gets drunk while she gets high. Clint does what he’s supposed to do, what he _always_ _does_ ; he stays out of the way.

When his foster parents fall asleep, Clint makes a decision. _He knows what he has to do._

He wastes no time, silently creeping around, grabbing scissors, cutting his hair as short and even as possible, to keep his hair off his neck and out of his face. And he grabs his duffle bag, filing it with his clothes and some food and a water bottle. He grabs as much cash as he can find in his foster father’s “secret” hiding spots. Then he’s grabbing his purple baseball cap and is walking out the door. He runs for blocks, ducking down alleyways just in case one of his foster parents heard him leave and came after him. Nobody comes.

He walks all night, resting his hand on his still flat stomach when he sits to rest and watch the sunset, miles away from that terrible place. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe.” He sighs and rubs his thumb gently over the spot he knows is where the baby is, “I promise.” He eats some food and drinks half the water bottle before setting off again. Around noon, he finds a place he deems relatively safe that is in the shade to sleep. He eats again before he goes to sleep and drinks the rest of the water bottle. He wakes up when the sun is beginning to set, and starts walking again. He walks all through the night, stopping only to fill his water bottle at a park.

When the sun begins to rise, he stops at a sub sandwich restaurant and orders a breakfast sub and a bottle of milk. He eats, counting the money he has left and ignoring the looks that the staff give him.

He knows he looks homeless; he already smells like it, from not being aloud to shower often while he’d been living with his foster parents. He finds that he has about seventy dollars; which is great, for now. But he has no idea how he will survive off of that and the food he stole from his foster parents. He figures he’ll have to hope to find a good homeless shelter once the baby is born. But he can’t force himself to go there now, after being in countless foster homes and group homes growing up. He knows what it feels like to be lost in the system, and he cannot risk going back.

He plans on heading to New York City, and should get there by nighttime tomorrow. Brookhaven, New York wasn’t too far from NYC, and Clint thought he’d do best there. He’d lived in the city before, and he had good memories of the city. He thought that that was the best place to find a job and build a new life.

He finishes his meal and heads back into the world, ready to walk for a couple more hours before once again sleeping the hottest part of the day away.

_Run for your life, my love. Run and you don’t give up. If all that you are, all that you want. Run for your life, right now. And if you don’t know how. I’ll go with you, take all that’s true. Leave all that’s burned behind. So run for your life. Run for your life._


	3. Cold As Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for another short chapter, I promise that they will get longer soon!
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o

Part One

Chapter Three: Cold As Stone

_Lord, all I know is I don’t wanna breathe. I wish I was cold as stone, then I wouldn’t feel a thing. Wish I didn’t this heart, then I wouldn’t know the sting of the rain._

When Clint got to New York City, he realized that the memories he’d had of the city were wrong. He’d had good memories of the city, the best foster home he’d ever had was there. Right before he went to his foster parent’s house, he lived in the city with a little old lady, a beta who had really loved him. She was a tiny little woman with short, curly white hair. Her husband had died over a decade before, and her daughter lived in Canada with her husband and sons. She had always loved having kids around, and had loved having Clint with her. Clint had started to love her, too. Then she died of a heart attack, and he went to live in Brookhaven. When he’d lived with her, he had befriended a couple of homeless people, who were nice and sweet and relatively happy and healthy. He gave them food and water with the old lady, and they would tell him stories while they ate.

Now he saw the truth, in the homeless people who spent their time outside on hot sidewalks and in dirty parks. He found a place where lots of homeless people slept, and it smelled like urine and feces and it was hotter than he could have ever imagined in the early September heat. It was a dark alley and everyone slept as close together as they could. Everyone was coughing and snoring and he was terrified. The only thing that kept this safe was that nobody could really smell each other enough to know what secondary gender they were. So Clint settled in there to sleep, trying to stay strong and brave.

He wrapped his arms around himself and planted his head on his bag, so it wouldn’t be easily stollen. His bag laid under his head as he stared at the people around him, and at the dirty floor or the dirty brick walls. He cried himself to sleep.

He woke up to freezing water falling on him. The rain felt like fire and ice at the exact same time as it harshly pelted his hot skin. He was the only one to cry out from the rain. Some didn’t even wake, just turned over in their sleep. The person sleeping closest to him was awake, watching him. She reached into her trash bag and pulled some things out. She placed one on her lap and leaned forward to hand him the other. It was a rain poncho, cheap and dirty, but still functional enough to help protect him from the falling rain. She smiled in the silence as he stuttered out a small, “Thank you.” She nodded and put hers on as he did the same. She closed her eyes and quickly fell back asleep. Clint sat there for a long time, just thinking and trying to not cry.

Clint couldn’t help but think, _I’m going to die out here_ , before falling back asleep.

When he woke up in the morning, everyone was packing up to go beg on the streets, and Clint couldn’t help but wonder what he should do. Maybe he could try getting a job? That way, maybe he’d be able to make money and buy more food and some things for the baby. So he set off in search of a job.

Trying to find a job proved to be a waste of time and energy. Nobody would hire someone who didn’t have a home address or a phone number. And they wouldn’t except the payphone near the alley he lived as a phone number, or the alley he lived in as an address. So when he finally gave up after a week of searching for a job, he curled up on the ground of the alley and tried to ignore all the different pains he felt. His feet ached, and his head pounded painfully most nights, and he was hot and uncomfortable. His belly would ache from time to time, and he tried to make his food and money last as long as possible. But he knew he’d eventually spend all his money and learn how to beg for money on the streets, like everyone else who slept in alleyways at night.

_I wouldn’t hurt like this or feel so all alone. I wish I was cold as stone._


	4. Courage Is...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o
> 
> Special thank you to Ilast for the new summary of the story!

Part One

Chapter Four: Courage Is…

_Courage is when you’re afraid but you keep on moving anyway. Courage is when you’re in pain but you keep on living anyway._

Clint started to collect things after that. He knew he had to power through and live, for the baby. He’d do anything for his baby. _The baby is more important than he is._

He got a sleeping bag from a thrift store, a box of prenatal vitamins from a cheap department store, and a used coat from a yard sale. Weeks passed, and fall was in full swing. He was low on money, using it only to buy certain foods once in a while. He knew he’d be out of money early into October. He’d started begging as well, not really getting much money from that, but enough to keep his money in a small but constant flow. Some people felt more comfortable giving food to the homeless, and Clint found that he’d take anything that was given to him.

One day, he was given a half a loaf of bread and a cup of soup from an elderly woman, and brought it back to an alley to eat it, when he saw a little girl. She was standing next to a trash can, obviously having searched for food in it and failed. She had dirty, matted, long brown hair, and dirt on her face and clothes. Her big brown eyes stared at him and his new-found food. He pressed his lips together, and broke off a piece of the bread to eat himself, holding the rest of it out to her. Her eyes lit up in happiness, and she quickly came to join him, cuddling into his side and eating happily. The two shared the meal, dipping their part of the bread into the soup.

“My name is Gina,” the little girl said suddenly, surprising Clint.

He blinked down at her. “Nice to meet you Gina, I’m Clint.”

“Nice to meet you too…. How old are you?” she turns her head to the side, asking in all of her childhood innocence.

“Seventeen.”

“I’m eight,” she tells him, smiling softly at him.

“Are you alone, Gina?”

She frowns and nods. “My mom used to be here too, but she was arrested two nights ago. She made me hide when the police showed up. We were too close to one of the fancy houses, and the owners called the police on us. They could probably hear her singing to me. Before this, I haven’t eaten since she left.”

“You know, you shouldn’t be alone. I could take you down to the police station and ask them if your mom is going to be released soon, and I could help you out until she gets out. But you’ll have to lie and say I am eighteen and you are my niece.”

“Why?” she asked innocently.

“Because kids aren’t supposed to be alone out here and if they thought we were both kids who weren’t related, they’d take us to foster homes and it would be very hard for your mom to get you back. And, trust me, foster homes are not a place you wanna live.”

“How do you know that?”

“I spent most of my life in foster homes. When I was five, my parents… died.” _That’s one way to put it._ “And my older brother and I went to foster homes. We were separated and I lived in so many different foster homes. And it was bad. That’s why I’m here now, Gina. They treated me so badly that I decided that living on the streets would be better than living in the foster homes.”

She simply nods and the two end up going to the police station when the sun is going down. Clint holds her hand, and walks with her to the front desk. A police officer stares at him and Gina from behind the glass. “We’re here to find out when my sister will be released. She came in two nights ago, her name is Brittany Jones. This is her daughter, my niece, Gina Jones.”

“And you are?” The officer asks, monotone.

“Francis Jones,” he easily lied.

“How old are you, Francis?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Turned eighteen in July, sir. I got kicked out of my parents house, like Brittany did when she was my age.” _Lies, lies, all lies._

“Okay.” He types something into the computer in front of him and looks back up. “She will be released tomorrow at noon.”

“Okay. Thank you, officer. Have a good night.” Clint says, reaching down to lift Gina up. “You hear that, bumblebee? Mommy will be let out tomorrow. We’ll come meet her then.” He says loudly as they walk out, still putting on a show for the officer.

They go back to sleep in the alley Clint sleeps in, and Gina spends the night with her arms and legs wrapped around him. He hardly sleeps at all, staying up and stroking her hair nearly all night. The pair head towards the police station at eleven AM, and get there fifteen minutes early so they can wait. Clint holds the little girl’s hand and takes a deep breath. She’s all jittery and nervous, so Clint kneels down in front of her. “Have courage, Gina.”

“What’s courage?”

“It’s when you are scared, but you are brave anyways. Or when you need something but get by without it.”

She nods. Clint stands back up, holding her hand tightly, and then the doors open. A woman is standing there in ratty clothes like Gina’s, a backpack on her shoulders. She’s probably only twenty-five, and she looks just like her daughter, only cleaner from being forced to shower or bathe. Her hand flies over her mouth when Gina cries, “Mommy!” Clint lets go of Gina’s hand and lets her run to her mother’s arms. Clint smiles as mother and daughter hug. Brittany’s eyes meet Clint’s and he waves. She mouthes _‘Thank you’_ and he nods. _He’s never felt so good in his life._

_Courage is when you’ve lost your way, but you find your strength anyway. Courage is when you’re afraid. Courage is when it all seems grey. Courage is when you make a change and you keep on living anyway. You keep on moving anyway. You keep on giving anyway. You keep on loving anyway._


	5. Jesus, Take the Wheel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of part one and the last chapter that Phil is not in! 
> 
> I do want to let you know that I am starting classes again today so if the chapters start coming later, that's why. I will make sure to update twice a week but they might not always be Mondays and Fridays.
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o

Part One

Chapter Five: Jesus, Take the Wheel

_For the first time, in a long time, she bowed her head to pray. She said “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been living my life. I know I’ve got to change. So from now on, tonight…”_

September turned to October, and with it came the cold. Clint learned that the cold weather meant that the homeless people went a bit crazy. They’d do anything for a little extra warmth. Clint thoroughly avoided any people that he didn’t know were omegas or betas. He would only sleep in places he knew were safe from alphas and he would stay away from alphas during the day. And that worked for the month of October.

Clint was now out of the money he’d taken from his foster parents, and he was now relying on begging for food or for money. With the new baby bump he sported, Clint found that he got more money and food. Omegas and betas were the only people he’d ever ask for food or money from. He was too worried about what would happen if he asked an alpha for something. He worried they’d all be like his foster father, and that they’d hurt him more than he’d already been hurt if he asked them. So when they’d walk by, usually rushing to get too or from work, he’d stay quiet. Some would drop money into his cup without him even asking, and Clint couldn’t help but flinch whenever one would get too close. Omegas were the most likely bunch of people to give him money, and beta women were most likely to give him food. One even bought him something from a food vendor once, and Clint had thanked her so profusely that she’d laughed and said he didn’t need to thank her. Beta men usually avoided him, as if it was too awkward for them or something.

Halloween night was one of the scariest nights of Clint’s life. He remembered being a little kid and scaring homeless people whenever someone took him to the city to trick and treat. He knew now how much of a little jerk he was, now that he was in their place. Now, he felt the panic that most have them must have felt when he’d jump out at them and scream or shout.

He held one hand protectively over his small baby bump the whole night, hiding in an alleyway that most of the people- homeless or otherwise- seemed to avoid. He successfully made it through the night after that. He rubbed his belly and swore to God that he’d never let his baby do something like that to people, especially the homeless.

When October turned to November, the craziness of the homeless cranked the crazy up another notch, and Clint found himself at a loss, not sure how to avoid people. One day, he saw an omega woman getting paid for sex from an alpha male, and he’d run the other way, not wanting to get involved with sex at all. _He would never be able to do that._

Then, one night, he found one situation he couldn’t avoid. He was walking back to the place he usually slept at night. Snow fell in large clumps, and a thick sheet of snow started to form in New York. Clint had had to look at the front page of a newspaper to make sure he was right about the date. It was a week before Thanksgiving, and it was snowing. _What the hell is wrong with New York?_

And that day, a homeless alpha trapped him in an alleyway before he could get back to the place he stayed- back to relative safety. And Clint couldn’t do anything but pray, _God, save me and my baby!_

_Jesus, take the wheel. Take it from my hands, ‘cause I can’t do this on my own. I’m letting go. So give me one more chance to save me from this road I’m on. Jesus, take the wheel._


	6. Homeless Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kudos and comments. Comments make me really happy and I love getting constructive criticism, so feel free to let me know if you have any! Also, if I'm doing a bad job at giving warnings before the chapters let me know so I can make this enjoyable for everyone. This is the first chapter of part two. This chapter is from Phil's point of view, picking up where we left off in the last chapter. 
> 
> Warnings: Attempted rape 
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o

Part Two

Chapter Six: Homeless Heart

 _Broken._   _Shattered like a mirror, in a million pieces. Sooner or later you’ve got to find something, someone, to find you and save you._

Phil Coulson walked down the sidewalk, shielding his face from the cold wind. He was on his way back to his apartment, ready to go in and warm up. A freak snowstorm in November had hit with seemingly no warning. It was about a week from Thanksgiving, and New York City was already covered in a sheet of snow. Phil had just left work, and was ready to go home and relax after a long and grueling day.

It was getting dark, and Phil was having a hard time getting through the snow forming on the sidewalk. He went to cut through an alleyway like he’d done a thousand times during the winter. He found that the snow did not stick as much in this alley and he didn’t want to deal with the busy sidewalks. He’d have taken a cab, but he didn’t realize how cold it was outside. He entered the alley, ready to cut through as he usually did. But this time, it was different. He saw someone pressed against the wall by another person. The whole alley reeked of alpha pheromones and the smell of an afraid omega. Phil then heard talking.

“Come on you stupid omega, take off your pants. I have a way to keep us warm,” an angry, rough voice growls.

“No,” a scared voice whimpers in return. That’s all Phil needs to hear before he rushes up to the pair. He nearly lifts the alpha in the air as he pulls him off of the terrified omega.

“Hey!” the alpha yells. “This is none of your business, rich boy,” he growls, trying to get back to the omega. Phil puts himself in between the two men, and then punches the alpha in the face. The alpha staggers back and then tries to come back at him again, so Phil beats him to the ground. Finally, groaning in pain, the alpha gets up and rushes out of the alley.

Phil turns around and looks at the omega. He looks like he’s freezing, his fingers are turning blue and his nose and cheeks are redder than a tomato. He’s got a coat on, but it isn’t one that will block the wind very well. He’s homeless, obviously, just like the alpha. But he looks so young and beautiful, and is pregnant, judging by his stomach and the way his hand covers it protectively. Phil holds his hands out, palms up, so he can show that he isn’t a threat. “Hey there, are you okay?” he asks. He receives a nod. “He didn’t hurt you?” A shake of the head is all he gets. “I’m Phil. Phil Coulson. I’m an alpha, but I’d never hurt you. I want to help you. You and your baby.” He gestures to his stomach, and the omega looks down at it. Phil can tell that he’s thinking.

Finally, the omega looks up. “I’m Clint Barton.”

“Okay, Clint. Do you want to come with me to my apartment? You can warm up and clean up and then you can eat some food. How does that sound? Would you like that?”

_When you’re lost in the dark, when you’re out in the cold. When you’re looking for something that resembles your soul. When the wind blows your house of cards, I’ll be a home to your homeless heart._


	7. You Found Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. This chapter is back in Clint's point of view. Enjoy!
> 
> Warning: attempted rape
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o

Part Two

Chapter Seven: You Found Me

_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me. Lyin’ on the floor, surrounded, surrounded. Why’d you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?_

Clint’s heart pounded as he was pressed against the wall by a strange alpha who stunk of pheromones. The alpha pressed close and tried to stick his tongue down his throat. Clint tried to make himself as small as possible. Fear rolled off of him in waves. Then he smelled the alcohol that burned his nose and felt the alpha trying to undo both pairs of pants. “Come on you stupid omega, take off your pants. I have a way to keep us warm,” the alpha said, rough voice making Clint start to shake as he is reminded of his foster father.

“No!” Clint whimpered as he tried desperately to forget about his foster father. He could remember the way he smelled, how he tasted when he’d make Clint kiss him or give him a blowjob. He remembered the gross oily skin he had, and how he always smelled like sweat and grease. And then, suddenly, the alpha was off him. Clint opened his eyes to see another alpha pulling this alpha off.

“Hey!” the alpha yells. “This is none of your business, rich boy,” he growls, trying to get back to Clint. Clint flinches automatically and puts a hand on his stomach, trying to protect his baby. The new alpha puts himself between Clint and the other alpha and then the new alpha punches the other one’s face. Clint stares in shock. The alpha staggers back and then tries to come again, and the other alpha beats him to the ground. Finally, groaning in pain, the alpha gets up and rushes out of the alley. Clint tries not to flinch when the alpha turns to look at him.

The alpha stares at him for a moment, and Clint focuses on breathing. His eyes dart from side to side, trying to find a way out of the alley, should he need to make a quick escape. Then the alpha puts his hands up slowly, holding them out with the palms up. Clint blinks at the sign of peace. “Hey there,” the alpha says softly, “are you okay?” Clint nods, not sure what this alpha wants with him and why he’d helped Clint in the first place. “He didn't hurt you?” Clint shakes his head. “I’m Phil. Phil Coulson. I’m an alpha, but I’d never hurt you. I want to help you. You and your baby.” The alpha gestures to Clint’s stomach and Clint follows the gesture. _What should he do? Should he do what he says? He can’t be much worse than anyone else._

“I’m Clint Barton,” he said as he looked up. The alpha is really attractive, actually. He has brown hair and brown eyes and wears a suit that hugs his frame perfectly. Clint can tell there are strong arms and abs underneath the suit.

“Okay, Clint. Do you want to come with me to my apartment? You can warm up and clean up and then you can eat some food. How does that sound? Would you like that?” He sounds kinda hopeful, and nervous, and Clint can’t help but trust him. _What’s the harm of going somewhere warm and getting cleaned and fed? He’d be out of the alpha’s apartment before anything else could happen. He would be back on the streets, working hard to stay alive and safe, in no time._

“Yes sir, I’d like that.”

“Please, call me Phil,” he says with a chuckle. “Here, let me help with your bag.” Clint flinches when his hand comes too close. “Sorry. I should have asked first. Can I carry your bag for you?” Clint searches his eyes, only finding respect and care in his eyes. So he nods, allowing him to take the bag. The two walk the rest of the way out of the alley in silence. When Phil turns down the sidewalk and Clint follows, Phil turns towards him. “So, how old are you?” When Clint doesn’t answer, he adds, “I’m twenty-eight, and I just started working at Stark Industries.”

Clint snorts a laugh, the first time he’s laughed in years. “What do you do there?”

Phil smiles. “I’m a lawyer. I pretty much make sure Stark doesn’t do anything stupid with the company.”

“Wow. You work personally with Tony Stark?” Clint asks.

“Yeah. He’s… something else, I’ll tell you.”

“I’m seventeen, by the way.”

“Seventeen?” He asks, staring at him. “Clint-”

“Please don’t tell anyone!” Clint blurts. “I can’t go back.”

“Where? To your family?”

“I don’t have a family. My parents died when I was little, not that they were ever great parents to begin with, and I have no idea where my brother is. I’ve been in and out of foster homes since I was five. That’s how…”

“How what?”

“How I got a baby,” he admits, resting his hands on his belly. The two walk in silence after that.

_Just a little late, you found me, you found me. Why’d you have to wait? To find me, to find me._


	8. Enchanted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: References to past sexual and emotional abuse, PTSD, flashbacks.
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o, Maria Hill (26)-b, Nick Fury (33)-b, Clark Coulson (62)-o, Charlotte Coulson (65)-a, Mike Coulson (34)-a, Sherry Coulson (30)-o, Maggie Coulson (13)-a, Jeremy Coulson (7)-o, Sam Coulson (5)-b, Jameson Coulson (32)-b, Tina Coulson (30)-o, Nathan Coulson (8)-o, Alex Coulson (2)-b, Janie Coulson (22)-o, Abby Coulson (3)-o

Part Two

Chapter Eight: Enchanted

_The lingering questions kept me up. 2 AM, who do you love? I wonder till I’m wide awake._

Phil’s building is by far one of the higher end buildings. Clint feels extremely out of place when Phil leads him through the lobby and to the elevator. He shifts uncomfortably, worried that he’ll make it stink. When the elevator doors open up on the right floor, Phil leads him to his apartment. He unlocks the door and pushes it open. Clint walks in slowly, when Phil encourages him to go first. Phil sets his bag by the door and shows Clint around. “This is the entryway. I have a washer and dryer in this room. Then we have the living room, behind that is the kitchen, and then down this hallway is the bathroom and the bedrooms.”

Phil goes into one of the bedrooms, and opens the drawers. Clint freezes in the doorway. He holds up some boxers, sweat pants, and a T-shirt. “I think these will fit you. And you can wash your clothes while you take your shower.”

“O-okay,” Clint stutters.

“Come on, I’ll show you how to run the shower. You can set the clothes you are wearing outside the door on the floor and then I can put them in the wash.” Phil shows him the shower and where things are like soap and wash cloths and towels. Then he has Clint put all his clothes in his washer. Clint feels uncomfortable when he is alone in the bathroom. But he hears Phil walk away from the bathroom and head down towards the kitchen. So Clint slowly strips down and slips his clothes out the door. He stands in front of the mirror, staring at himself. He looks nearly unrecognizable. His hair is once again long and shaggy, but also dirty. His eyes are red, his face is pink and his cheeks are slightly hallowed. His ribs, which he could see before leaving Brookhaven, were now worse than before. His stomach is bloated from the baby, but that’s the only part of him that looks at all healthy. He has dirt all over his face and body.

When Clint steps into the shower, he almost doesn’t know what to do. He watches the ground of the shower turn brown as dirt falls off his body from just the water. Eventually, when the ground is clear again, he grabs a cloth and some soap and rubs his body clean. And, suddenly, it’s like he can’t scrub his body enough. He scrubs and scrubs until the water goes cold, and he still scrubs, not even noticing. He only hears his foster father’s voice in his head, only feels his body on his. He is pulled from his own head when he feels hands on him, gripping his shoulders and pulling the cloth from his hand. “Shh, Clint. Relax. I’ve got you, it’s okay. Oh God, let’s get you in a towel and then in the kitchen so I can take care of these cuts. God, Clint.”

Clint draws in a shaky breath, and suddenly his world is spinning. Phil reaches out to catch him, pulling him up and close. He wraps a towel around him and grabs another as he carries him out of the bathroom. He sets him in a chair at the kitchen table and sets the towel down before walking away and pulling a first aid kit from the cupboard. Then he grabs his cell phone and dials a number by memory as he kneels in front of Clint, opening the kit on the floor. As he holds it up to his ear, he looked back at Clint’s face. “Clint, are you okay? Can you say something to me?” Clint shrugs. “Can you tell me your full name and your favorite color?”

“Uh, Clinton Francis Barton and my favorite color is purple.” Clint says, staring at Phil’s face now. He can finally see clearly again.

“Ah, I saw you had a purple cap in your bag.” Phil says with a nod. Then, “Hey, Janie. I need some help. I have a man in my house who needs first aid.” He pauses, listening. “Omega, and he’s pregnant.” Another pause. “I don’t know, I’ll ask.” Phil turns to him again. “About how far along are you, Clint?”

“Uh, about eighteen weeks.”

“Eighteen weeks, Janie. And he’s got his whole body scraped up raw.” Clint’s eyes fly to his body, and suddenly he sees that the white towel is turning red from touching his body. He flinches hard, full body spasming slightly, and Phil puts his hand on his face, gently. Clint smells him releasing a calming scent. Clint can’t help but relax a little, leaning into the touch. Clint hadn’t been touched nicely or gently since the time he spent with Gina, and her mother who had kissed his cheek and asked him to stay with them. But he had told her he couldn’t do that. That he had issues, and this right here very clearly shows that, and that he didn’t want to ever cause them troubles. “Of course I will, you know that.”

Phil begins to use first aid on him, per instruction of this Janie. Clint can’t help but wonder who she is. The way he talks to her suggests that they are very close. Probably closer than friends, maybe a family member or a girlfriend. When Phil finishes fixing him up as much as possible, he say, “Alright, Janie. Thank you for all your help. I love you and I’ll see you in a few days.” He pauses, smiling. Clint’s heart drops to his stomach. The first good alpha he’d met was already with someone, _of course._ “Alright. Love you.” He puts the cell down on the table and helps Clint dry off.

“Thank you,” Clint says quietly, embarrassed that he’d made such a problem in this too-kind man’s life.

Phil pauses in his drying. “It’s okay, Clint. Really, it is. Now, I’m going to go get those clothes from the other room. And when I get back, I can make us something to eat. Okay?” Clint nods. When Phil disappears, Clint sighs. _What were you thinking? That you’d get saved by an alpha and that the two of you would fall in love and live happily ever after? Idiot._ Phil came back in with the clothes in his hand. He helped Clint stand up and offered support while Clint pulled on the boxers and sweatpants. Phil did the shirt for him, and smiled when Clint was fully clothed. “Okay. Dinner time. I have soup and lunch meat and bread and stuff. I could make soup and sandwiches? Would that be good enough for right now?” Phil asks as he starts digging around for soup cans and a pot to cook them in. Clint blinks, confused. “We can go to the store in the morning, and we could go buy clothes too, if it isn’t snowing too much out.”

“In the morning?” “Yeah. I figured that way you’d be rested enough to do the trip, and we could get a lot more done with you rested. And I’m going to call a doctor, first thing in the morning, to check on you and the baby. Hopefully my spare room is okay as it is, I’m afraid I don’t have any more sets of bedding. And nobody has slept in there in forever anyways, so it’s still clean.”

“You want me to stay the night?” Clint asks, surprised.

Phil spins around, “I want to help you and your baby, Clint. I want to help you get on your feet, so you don’t have to go live on the streets with your baby, begging just to get by. You can stay with me as long as you need. I can help you get a job, one that pays well and doesn’t discriminate against your secondary gender. One with benefits. And, one day, if you’d like, I can help you find a place to live, make sure they don’t try to cheat you out of unreasonable money.”

“Wow. I, uh, I just thought you were offering me a shower and some food.”

Phil frowns slightly. “I mean, if that’s all you want, then I won’t make you stay. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable in any way. I just thought… I don’t know what I thought. But you seem pretty comfortable with me.”

Clint pauses, thinking. He _has_ been awfully comfortable. Even more comfortable than he’d been with Gina that one day, or with any foster family he’d ever been with. Heck, he was more comfortable than he’d been with _his own famil_ y. “I don’t want to be a burden. And I don’t want to cause problems between you and Janie.”

Phil’s eyebrows furrow together in confusion and he frowns deeper. “How would you cause problems between me and my sister?”

Clint blinks owlishly, “Janie’s your sister?”

“Yes. She’s in medical school right now, so I called her because she knew the most about first aid.”

“What about your mate, or girlfriend or boyfriend? Won’t they be upset that you let some strange, pregnant, troubled homeless kid come here to stay as long as he needs?”

“I don’t have a mate or boyfriend or girlfriend. So really all there is is friends and family, and none of them would really care. I live alone, most of my family lives in Wisconsin and hardly ever visit. And my friends don’t really ever spend the night here.”

“Oh.” Clint says, feeling a little stupid.

“So, soup and sandwiches?” Phil asks with a small smile. “And you’ll stay?”

“Sure, Phil.” The two eat and talk about Phil’s friends and how they all met and which ones tended to come around the most often. Clint grins because it’s obvious that Phil cares about people deeply and is warning Clint of any quirks that could bother him. Clint laughs when Phil tells him about his friend Thor, who he warns has a voice louder than thunder.

Phil flushes, “What?” “You don’t have to warn me like that with them. I’ll be fine. It’s them you should be warning. I’m a mess, and as long as you tell them not to touch me inappropriately, then I can deal with anything else.”

“Oh, my friends wouldn’t do that. Or else they wouldn’t be my friends. But I’ll let them know that you had a… dark past with sexual stuff, and they’ll keep everything tame.”

“Okay. You can tell them as much or as little as you want.” Clint pauses. “Tell me about your family.”

Phil raises his eyebrows in surprise, “You want to know about my family?”

“Yeah. I mean, then I’ll know more about who you are.”

“Okay. Well, I have a mom and a dad, my dad is an omega and my mom is an alpha. Then I have an older brother, Mike, who is an alpha and is thirty-four. He’s mated to Sherry, who is an omega and is thirty. They have three kids together. Maggie, who’s thirteen and is an alpha, Jeremy, who is seven and is an omega, and Sam, and she’s five and is a beta. Then I have an older brother Jameson, who is a beta and is thirty-two. He is mated to Tina, who is an omega and is thirty. They have two kids, Nathan, who is eight and an omega, and Alex, and she’s two and a omega. Then there’s me, alpha, twenty-eight and unmated. And lastly there is my younger sister, Janie, who is an omega and is twenty-two. She has a daughter, Abby, who is three and is an omega. Abby’s dad left before she was born.”

“Wow. You have a complicated family.” Clint says.

Phil nods, “Yeah, we were a big bunch even back when we were kids. And now everyone has kids. Except me.”

“No desire to have them or what?” Clint asks, and Phil smiles and shakes his head.

“I have just been waiting on the right person, is all. I’d love to have kids. I’d have as many kids as my mate would give me,” Phil says. Clint smiles. “What about you, did you want to have kids?”

Clint shrugs, “Sure, I just never thought I’d have them so young. I always thought, I don’t know…. I had this dream, when I was little. That I’d fall madly in love with some big, strong, attractive alpha and that we’d settle down. I dreamed I’d have some house on a farm, where we could raise chickens, and other animals. And we’d raise a bunch of kids, too.” He pauses then, thinking. “Then I got a little older and decided that I’d not get that. I settled for the idea that I’d not get some story book life. And I tried to dream a more realistic dream. I’d meet an alpha and I’d end up pregnant. So, it wouldn’t be perfect; we wouldn’t be already mated and ready to start a family. But we’d start it anyways. And when I’d have his baby, he’d ask me to be his mate, and I’d realize this was a good life.”

“And now?” Phil asks, “What do you dream now?”

Clint thinks, “I don’t have a dream for this, really. I dream that I have a healthy baby, and that I can give them a better life than I ever had. I dream that they’ll look like me, and not like _him_.” Phil smiles a sad smile.

When they go to bed that night, Clint lies awake and prays that he gets over his strange attraction to Phil Coulson. _He’ll never love you._

_Please don’t be in love with someone else. Please don’t have somebody waiting on you._


	9. Your Guardian Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to quickly note that I am not a doctor, nor have I studied anything about what is in this chapter. So I do not put a lot of detail in it and it is not supposed to be accurate. 
> 
> Warnings: panic attacks
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o,

Part Two

Chapter Nine: Your Guardian Angel

_I will never let you fall. I’ll stand up with you forever._

Clint woke up in the morning and could hear Phil’s voice in the kitchen. He rolls lightly out of bed and walks slowly down the hall. He pauses in the doorway, leaning against it and watching Phil cook. He’s standing in front of the stove, scrambled eggs in a pan and phone pressed to his ear. “Yes, we can be there at eleven. He has another appointment across town at one, should there be a problem with us getting there too?” He pauses, and Clint can tell he’s smiling, “Okay, great. Then we will be there. Thank you very much for fitting us into your schedule at the last minute.” Another pause. “You too, have a great day, ma’am.” Phil turns and sees Clint standing there, so he smiles even wider.

“Hey, Clint. I found some eggs with a good date and some frozen bacon that hasn’t gone bad. After we eat, we can go to the store to get you some clothes and to get some food. You have an appointment with an omega OBGYN and they will do a bunch of testing on the baby, to make sure it’s healthy and developing normally. Then you have an appointment at a general practitioner to check on your overall health, as well as your cuts from yesterday.”

“Thanks, Phil. You are really way too kind.”

The two eat in comfortable silence. Phil reads the paper and Clint watches the news on the TV in the kitchen. When they finish eating, they head to the store. They take Phil’s car, even though he rarely uses it in the city. Phil helps (forces) Clint to pick out clothes. It feels like a whole lot, and when Clint tells Phil it’s too much, he gets a soft glare. Clint backs down and lets Phil put another pair of maternity jeans in the cart. Clint flinches at the total when they get to the register, but Phil simply swipes his card and smiles at the cashier. They go grocery shopping next, and Phil loads all sorts of fresh fruits and veggies into the cart. He gets fresh baked bread and several boxes of pasta. When they get to the frozen foods section, Phil tells Clint to pick out his favorite type of ice cream. Clint is at a total loss. It had been _years_ since he’d been allowed to buy ice cream, and he had never _ever_ picked out a flavor himself.

Phil sees the hesitation and confusion on Clint’s face, and walks over to him. Clint feels his hand on his shoulder. “Hey, why don’t you tell me what flavors you don’t like, and we can narrow down the choices.” Clint nods. They eventually narrow it down to typical flavors: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, etc. Phil picks up a tub of neapolitan and holds it out towards Clint. “How about this? It’s chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. All in one.”

Clint’s eyes widen in awe and wonder and he nods, accepting the tub. Phil smiles and grabs a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough as well. When they finish the trip, the cashier eyes Clint oddly, and Clint shifts around. He hears Phil growl lightly, and Clint watches as the cashier diverts his gaze back to the food. Clint flushes, embarrassed by the staring and surprised by Phil’s growling. It felt, almost… possessive. Clint couldn’t help the pleased feeling that courses through his body at that. _This crush is getting out of hand,_ he thinks to himself.

They go back to Phil’s apartment and put the food away. Clint tries on all the clothes, and Phil stands outside the bathroom door, excepting each piece of clothing that fits and cutting the tags off. He throws the dark clothes all in the washer when Clint is done. Clint finally relaxes a little with him. _He’s a good alpha. Not like the others._

They take a cab to the doctor’s and Clint panics a little when they walk in the doors. There are pregnant omegas, both male and female, everywhere. Some of the omegas are not pregnant, but Clint hardly sees them. Some of the pregnant omegas are with their alphas, some are with betas, some are with other omegas, and some are all alone. Clint whimpers and freezes, and he sees Phil notice and come back to him. A hand finds it’s way in his hair, gently massaging his scalp. “Hey, it’s okay. Come on, Clint. Come back to me.” Clint gasps as his head clears, and he blinks away some tears. He’s now staring into Phil’s warm brown eyes. He relaxes, leaning into the hand on his head. “Good, good job.” Phil turns to face a nurse who is now fawning over Clint, asking if he’s alright. “He’ll be okay. Just a little panic attack.”

“Well, let me sign you two in,” the nurse says, looking at Clint again. Clint’s flushing with embarrassment yet again. He doesn’t really listen to anything else she says as she checks him in. She hands Phil a clipboard with a bunch of papers, and a pen with a flower on top. Phil guides him to a chair, and he sits automatically. A lot of people are staring, mostly alphas, as Phil sits in the seat next to him. He starts filling out the paperwork, asking Clint questions when he doesn’t know something. He’s on the last paper when a nurse calls Clint’s name. Phil stands and holds out a hand towards Clint. Clint takes it, shakily standing. The nurse asks him to confirm his full name and date of birth before she brings him to a scale.

“Okay, step on up and we’ll take your weight.” She turns to Phil, “Are you his alpha, or his foster father?” she asks, and Clint freezes. “I’m friends with his foster family, and I said I’d take him to his appointment.” Phil lies smoothly. She nods. “Okay, honey, get off and let’s get you to your room. Exam room five, and it looks like you are going to have to go down to picturing to get an ultrasound as well.” She shows them to the room and sets his file on the counter. “When you are finished with the paperwork, feel free to step out and hand a nurse the pen and clipboard.” Phil nods. The two sit and finish the paperwork. Phil goes to get rid of the pen and board, and about five minutes later, the doctor arrives.

“Hello, Clint. I’m Doctor Steve Rogers, and I’ll be your OBGY-“ the man breaks off. “Oh, Phil, I didn’t know you would be here.” Clint tenses up.

Phil smiles. “Hey, Steve. I asked them if you were available to help my friend Clint. Clint, this is Steve, I work with his mate.” Clint smiles politely.

“Phil… it says here that Clint’s only seventeen, and I know he’s not your mate or your son.” Clint starts to shake, worried. Phil wraps an arm around his waist.

“Shh, Clint, it’s oaky. Listen, Steve, he was abused by his foster father and he ran away from home. He’ll be eighteen in June. And I know what you’re gonna say, that June is far away, but you know first hand how foster homes can get. And, in the system, he’ll end up back with the people who hurt him.”

Steve smiles sadly. Then he says, “There’s a new law going into effect on New Years, that seventeen year olds can get emancipated from the foster system. And you know that it’s not uncommon for people to let their kids get mated young. So there’s not really anything I can do if I thought you two were mated until I’m told differently in January.” He shrugs. “Okay, let’s get on with this exam.”

Steve orders a lot of blood tests, and, when Clint agrees to it, genetic testing. He brings the pair down to do the ultrasound himself, and neither of them think anything of it. He leads them to a room and turns on the machine. He squirts some jelly on Clint’s stomach, and grabs the wand. He turns the screen towards him and puts the wand on Clint’s stomach. He moves it around for a while and flips a switch. Suddenly, there is a thumping sound in the room. Clint and Phil smile, but Steve frowns. He moves the wand around some more. Someone knocks on the door a second later, and a nurse comes in with a piece of paper. Steve stands up, “I’ll be right back.”

When Steve comes back, he has the paper and sits down next to Clint, who is now sitting up on his elbows. “Clint, I rushed the blood tests, and it came back showing abnormalities. And, with that information and the fact that your baby’s heart beat is irregular, I’m diagnosing your baby with a pretty serious heart condition.” Clint suddenly could hear his own heart beat pounding in his ears. He only catches a few word from there on out. “Bad heart… premature birth… every week… testing… unknown…” Clint can tell that Phil is listening. Steve finally looks at Phil and softly says, “You might want to talk to him about it later.” Phil nods seriously, looking at Clint with sympathy. Clint kinda can’t stand it.

Steve prints off some pictures of the baby, regardless of Clint’s silence. A nurse hands them to him when they are setting up another appointment for the next week. Clint takes it wordlessly, staring down at the picture. Phil holds a prescription to get filled in his hand, and lightly grabs Clint’s arm with his other hand. They get in a cab and Phil tells the driver the address to the next appointment. Clint unzips his new winter coat to set his hand on his stomach, “I love you,” he whispers.

_I’ll be there for you through it all. Even if saving you sends me to heaven._


	10. Secret Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! The next few chapters after this one are going to be longer, which is super exciting! I look forward to sharing them.
> 
> Warnings: mentions of alcohol use, and mentions of abuse.
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o

Part Two

Chapter Ten: Secret Life

_I remember when you walked into my secret life…. I was so scared but somehow I knew that you would always be there. And I remember everything._

After both appointments, Clint goes and hides in the bedroom Phil has him in. Phil comes in with some bowls and spoons a few minutes later. He sits down next to Clint, who tries to hide his tears. Phil simply helps him sit up and hands him a bowl. “Comfort food,” he explains when Clint stares at the ice cream. The two eat the ice cream, and Clint holds back the crying until they are done. Phil gently takes the bowl when it’s empty, and sets both together on the bedside table. Then Clint is sobbing into Phil’s chest. Phil just holds him and lets him stain his T-shirt with his tears. Clint feels attracted to him now more than ever, because he is not telling him that he’s a baby, or that he’s just a dumb, emotional omega. And the calming scent he is producing is working wonders for Clint.

“My family told me to bring you to Thanksgiving at my parent’s house. We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. But they’ll welcome you, Clint. They won’t expect anything from you, either. You could just come with and eat. You don’t even need to talk. You can just sit there, next to me. We will only spend two nights there, and we will come back the morning after the holiday, and that’s when your next appointment is.” Clint nods. “But don’t feel like you have to, they’ll understand. Besides, I don’t even always go up there for the holidays.”

Clint laughs a laugh wet from his crying. “I want to meet your family.”

Phil smiles.

A while later, Clint asks Phil if he’ll let him get his hair cut. Phil has him wrapped in his coat and the two are walking towards a barber shop that Phil brags about the whole way there. When they walk in, they are greeted by the owner and his alpha. The owner is a small omega who has long, dark hair and green eyes. The alpha is a large man with long blonde hair and a huge smile. “Hey, Loki. Hey, Thor. This is Clint Barton, I told you about him, and he wants a hair cut.”

“When will we see you back at work, Son of Coul?” The alpha booms, and Clint grins.

“After Thanksgiving, Thor.”

“Ah, Thor, I’ve heard about you.” Clint says, and Phil flushes. “And you, Loki.” Clint’s grin grows wider. “He warned me that you are loud.” Clint adds to Thor, to make Phil groan. Thor booms with laughter, and Clint smirks at Phil.

“He has told me of you as well, young one.” Thor claps a hand on Clint shoulder lightly, and Clint smiles and shifts around nervously.

“Do ignore him, he is an idiot sometimes.” Loki says, leading Clint to a chair and throwing a glare Thor’s way.

Loki cuts his hair and uses an electric cutter to do his hair as short as Clint told him to make it, like what he’d done before his last foster family.

“Would the two of you enjoy joining our friends for dinner on Sunday?” Thor asks when Clint is done with his hair cut. Clint looks at Phil, who frowns.

“I don’t know that Clint is up to that just yet, Thor….”

“I’d like to meet all your friends. If you want to go, I want to go.” Clint says with a shrug. Thor grins.

“We shall feast like it’s our last day on Earth!” Thor exclaims, and hugs Clint as gently as the giant can. Clint laughs.

That night, Phil makes spaghetti for dinner. As they eat, Phil asks Clint, “Are you sure you want to meet everybody? They are kinda overwhelming.”

“A little overwhelming is good sometimes. Besides, I like Thor. And Steve is… well, he’s my doctor but he seems like a nice guy. And Loki… Loki is quiet so who knows if I’m gonna like him. The point is, they’re a heck of a lot better than any of the people I’ve met.” They are quiet for a while.

“Tell me about your family. You know, your real family.” Phil requests.

“Well, my dad was… a jerk, to say the least. He beat on my mom, and my brother and I got a little bit of that beating too. He was an alpha, and he always had a bunch of omegas and beta women in the house. He was always cheating on my mom. That’s what Barney told me. My mom was great, though. She had my color hair and eyes, and she loved me and my brother unconditionally. Barney looks like my dad. Red-brown hair and dark blue eyes. He’s gotta be like twenty-three by now. But he didn’t always like me, and was a bit of a jerk like my dad.”

“What happened to your parents?”

“Dad got drunk, which he always did, and got angry when he was driving my mom home from work. He crashed the car into a tree. Died upon impact.”

A hand covers his hand suddenly, and he looks up to see Phil smiling sadly at him. Clint draws a breath in, trying to push his attraction aside. “I’m so sorry, Clint. About everything.”

_I do know that you came to rescue me from my secret life. I don’t know what life will bring tomorrow but I want you there next to me. And I don’t know where I will be tomorrow but I’ll remember you and me. Oh, I’ll remember you and me. You and me._


	11. Everything Has Changed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! We get to meet the others in this one! 
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o

Part Two

Chapter Eleven: Everything Has Changed

_I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now. I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you…_

When Clint wakes up on Sunday, he gets showered and dressed before Phil finishes making breakfast. He comes into the kitchen as Phil gets the table set with their food. “Hey, let me make lunch for us.” Clint requests, and Phil frowns slightly.

“But I really don’t mind making food. Honestly. Besides, you should just rest and eat, gain some weight back for you, not just the baby.” Clint frowns at the rejection and just sits down.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting your friends today.” Clint says when Phil sits across the table from him.

“I just hope they don’t make you upset.” Phil admits.

“You really don’t have to worry about me, Phil. I think I can handle a few co-workers and I’ve already met three of them.” Phil simply gives him half a smile.

The two spend the day inside, talking about the different foster homes Clint had lived in. “Like I said before, I was only five when my parents died. We went to an emergency foster home the night of the accident, because nobody could really register us to the system that late in the evening. That’s where we found out that our parents had died, so that right there was pretty traumatizing in and of itself. The first home Barney and I _really_ went to was a big group home. We had never seen so many kids in one small building before, and I was terrified. Everyone was older than me, since Barney was eleven and refused to be split from me. We went to another big group home that year. After my sixth birthday, I was ripped out of the house and ripped away from my brother.”

“Why?”

“Barney was a trouble maker and they wanted me to stay a good kid. And he was expected to hit puberty soon, since he was twelve going on thirteen. So they didn’t want me around him. I went to live with a couple of betas after that, and that’s when I began to rebel. Suddenly, I was becoming the trouble maker, and they were mad. After that, I was shipped from foster family to foster family. I saw Barney sometimes. We got to see each other on our birthdays. We used to live in Iowa, when we were kids. So I’ve made it pretty far. When Barney was fifteen, he told me he was running away from his foster home to join the circus. He wanted me to do the same.”

“Did you do it?” Phil asked.

“I tried. I mean, I really, really _tried_. But I lived so far from Barney and the circus and I didn’t make it there. I got lost and scared and then the police found me. So they brought me back to the foster family, and that family got me marked as a bad kid. I was only nine. The years after that were not fun, because nobody wanted me. So I spent most of the time in big group homes. From the time I was thirteen to the time I was fifteen, I lived with an elderly woman here in the city. She was a beta, and she was the best person I ever lived with. I spent the last part of her life with her. She died, close after my fifteenth birthday. I was shipped off to my last foster home after her house. That’s where…”

“You don’t have to tell me about them, Clint.” Phil assures him, and he nods and swallows.

“I wasn’t aloud to go to her will reading, but I stole a few pictures of her and kept them hidden. She was the best. I needed something to remember her by.”

“It’s okay, Clint. You don’t have to defend yourself. I’d have done the same thing.”

The two eat lunch and then they settle down and watch TV until it’s time to go to meet Phil’s friends. They take a cab to Stark Tower, and Clint feels a little bit like he’s a little kid on Christmas. Contrary to what his student records say (or don’t say, because school wasn’t a thing he was allowed to attend since he was fifteen), Clint loves science, technology, and learning. So he’s kinda geeking out when he gets out of the cab. Phil helps him out, like he usually does, and shuts the door. Clint goes through the revolving door first, and Phil ends up behind him. Clint looks around in awe and Phil chuckles and grabs his arm, gently leading him towards the elevator that goes towards the private floors. He scans his thumbprint on the pad, and Clint watches in fascination as the door opens up.

“Welcome back, Mr. Coulson. Sir has requested that I tell you that Ms. Romanoff and Mr. and Mr. Odinson are already here.” Clint is looking around, completely confused as to who is talking.

“Thanks, Jarvis.” Clint sees Phil’s lips twitch up into an amused smile.

“And who is this young gentleman with you?”

“Okay, what gives, Phil?!” Clint exclaims. “Who the hell is talking?”

“Jarvis, this is Clint Barton. Clint, Jarvis is Mr. Stark’s A.I.”

“A.I.? Like, artificial intelligence? He’s a robot?” Clint asks as the doors open.

A voice Clint doesn’t recognize answers, “Not a robot, I have three of those in my lab. J is more than that.” Clint gapes at Tony Stark, who is standing in front of him now, in jeans and an AC/DC shirt. “His name stands for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. He’s a highly advanced computerized A.I.”

“You’re Tony Stark,” is all Clint can say at the moment.

Stark smirks, “And I assume you are Clint Barton. Someone get this boy a prize for knowing who I am!” he jokes. A red-headed woman smacks him on the back of the head. “Ow! Not cool, Natasha! What would my mate say if he knew you were hitting me?”

She arches one perfect eyebrow, and Clint can’t help but feel totally amused by this alpha. “He’d say, “Shut your mouth, Tony.””

Stark frowns at her. “You’re probably right.” He winks at Clint and walks away.

The alpha then turns to him with a smile and an extended hand. “Natasha Romanoff.”

He takes her hand and shakes it, “Clint Barton. It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.”

“You don’t need to be so submissive. I’m not that kind of alpha.”

“Oh.”

Phil leads him further into the room with a hand on the small of his back. “No need to be shy now, you’ve met everyone else who is already here. The rest is a piece of cake compared to that, they’ll all come in one or two at a time now.”

He sits on a couch in between Phil and Natasha. Thor and Loki come in from the kitchen with drinks in their hands. Tony is lying across another couch across the room. “Friend Barton! I am glad to see that you have joined us tonight!” Stark smacks a hand back towards the loud alpha.

“Shut up, Shakespeare. Have you not been practicing on using your indoor voice?” Loki rolls his eyes and starts to sit on the dramatic genius’s legs. The man yips, “Hey, watch where you are sitting, horn head.” But he moves his legs so Loki and Thor can both sit next to him.

“I apologize.” Thor hands Clint a bottle of water and Phil a bottle of beer before sitting.

A few minutes of light banter between those three later, a short beta entered the room. He had dark, curly hair, and glasses that sat low on his nose instead of over his brown eyes. “Oh, hello,” he says quietly when he sees Clint. Clint does an awkward little wave back.

“Brucie Bear, everyone’s picking on me except the new kid and goody-two-shoes!” Stark whines. Bruce goes to perch himself on the arm of the couch, next to Stark. Stark makes kissy faces and noises at him until he bends down to peck his lips. Stark whines, looking for more from that kiss, and Clint’s eyebrows go up.

“We have company. Behave yourself.” That earns him another Stark pout.

“Tell them to behave then.” Bruce thinks about it, looking at Stark and only Stark before shaking his head. “You started it.”

“You can’t possibly know that!”

“After years and years of knowing Tony, you can just tell when it’s his fault by looking at him.” Bruce addresses Clint.

Clint laughs. Just then, the elevator’s doors ding and Steve Rogers steps out with an omega. He’s got long, dark hair and hazel eyes, and seems kinda submissive, like he’d just been scolded. Steve, come to think of it, looks like he’d done some scolding. The most eye-catching thing about this omega, however, is his metal prosthetic arm. Clint tries not to stare at it. But it’s just so _cool_ that he can’t help but look at it for a long minute. “Sorry we were late.” Steve says.

“He was too busy yelling at me for trying to bring my nerf guns,” the omega says, his pout sullen. Clint’s eyes light up at the mention of nerf guns.

“Did you bring mine back?” Natasha asks. The omega’s pout turns even sulkier.

“He confiscated _all_ _of them_.” Steve turns towards him with an expression that was a bit too harsh.

“You know _why_ I did that, Buck.”

“You didn’t do that because of me, did you?” Clint asks.

Steve turns to look at him, a bit flustered. “Uh…. No?”

“I _love_ nerf guns. I once got to play with a neighbor’s guns and he even had a bow and arrow one. I _love_ archery.”

Steve is suddenly looking sorry. But his mate simply pumps a fist in the air. “Yes! Now someone will finally use that one!”

In the end, Clint sits between Bucky and Natasha, with Tony not far. The four of them talk for most of the night. Bucky and Clint talk about making plans for once the baby was born, to practice in the firing range a few blocks from the tower that has an archery range as well as a firing range for guns. Natasha and Clint talk about learning some pregnancy-safe yoga and defense training. Tony and Clint talk about science and technology, with Bucky bursting in whenever he’s not talking to Natasha about whose turn it is to pick the movie. After dinner, they ask him if he has a favorite movie, and that’s how they all end up in the living room watching The Terminator.

It’s a fun night, one of the most fun nights that Clint’s had… well, ever. Unbeknownst to him, Phil watches him with a smile on his face the entire evening.

_All I know is we said, “Hello." And your eyes look like coming home. All I know is a simple name. Everything has changed. All I know is you held the door. You’ll be mine and I'll be yours. All I know since yesterday is everything has changed._


	12. Beautiful Soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Phil's point of view. Phil's family is in this one so you may want to read the character list, because there are a lot of family members and they are all made up. 
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o, Maria Hill (26)-b, Nick Fury (33)-b, Clark Coulson (62)-o, Charlotte Coulson (65)-a, Mike Coulson (34)-a, Sherry Coulson (30)-o, Maggie Coulson (13)-a, Jeremy Coulson (7)-o, Sam Coulson (5)-b, Jameson Coulson (32)-b, Tina Coulson (30)-o, Nathan Coulson (8)-o, Alex Coulson (2)-b, Janie Coulson (22)-o, Abby Coulson (3)-o

Part Two

Chapter Twelve: Beautiful Soul

_I don't want another pretty face. I don't want just anyone to hold. I don't want my love to go to waste. I want you and your beautiful soul. You’re the one I wanna chase. You’re the one I wanna hold. I won't let another minute go to waste. I want you and your beautiful soul. Your beautiful soul, yeah._

Tuesday, the pair pack to go spend two nights at Phil’s parent’s home. Phil watches as Clint slowly starts to panic as they get closer and closer to being ready to go to bed. As far as Phil can tell, Clint is exponentially more nervous about meeting Phil’s family than he was about meeting Phil’s friends. Clint insists that he learn everyone’s names and faces before they even get there, even though Phil tells him that he shouldn’t worry. But Clint really, _truly_ wants to learn it all, so Phil spends most of the day helping him. Phil has called both his parents and Janie to tell them that Clint was coming with him and that he was extremely nervous about meeting them. His parents swear to tell his brothers to talk to their families about it.

Phil knows that the younger kids will probably forget things, and that they may not even understand. He knows that Mike was planning on telling Maggie as much as Phil had told them. She was, after all, the only one who would understand what rape was and why it so deeply affected Clint. Phil is just grateful that Thanksgiving was only spent between his parents and their kids and grandkids. Christmas would be a whole different thing.

Most of the snow had melted, and Phil knew that it had not snowed back home. Michigan usually got anything that New York got, but somehow they had lucked out. The drive was going to take nearly twelve hours, so they’d be leaving first thing in the morning the next morning, and would probably arrive right in time to meet Phil’s parents and sister and then head to bed. Janie was the only one of his siblings who also lived too far to just come for Thanksgiving. Come Christmas, the entire house and guesthouse would be packed full of people.

After dinner, Phil thought Clint was going to back out of the whole trip. Instead, he just said to have a good night before he ducked into his bedroom for the night.

The next morning, Phil woke up to the smell of eggs, coffee, and french toast. He followed his nose to the kitchen, where Clint was standing, showed and dressed for the day. He put a plate in Phil’s spot, next to the newspaper, and then went to grab the coffee pot and Phil’s travel mug. Phil’s eyes were wide with surprise, and suddenly he felt something shift in him. He sat quickly, trying to hide his sudden arousal. _Oh my God, you perve. He’s seventeen, he probably didn’t even know what this looks like for an alpha!_ Making food for an alpha, when it is just for an alpha and themselves, is kinda a big deal for an omega. It is kind of an act that says, _I’m a good omega, see? I can be good, and I can make you happy._

Phil finally breaks the silence when Clint sits down with a cup of milk. “Thanks for the breakfast, Clint! You didn’t need to do this!” Clint raises an eyebrow, because that hardly sounded like English. And Phil had said it in such a high, squeaky voice that he hadn’t spoken in since his parents walked in on him masturbating.

“It’s really no problem, Phil. I love cooking.” Clint tries. He is holding back laughter, Phil can tell. But he eats his food and reads his paper while Clint eats his food and watches the news.

They get on the road after breakfast, and drive all day. They stop for lunch and then for dinner. But soon they are pulling into Phil’s old neighborhood and Phil is a little worried that Clint’s gonna be mad at him for not warning him about the neighborhood. Instead, Clint leans as close to the window as he can, his nose presses against the glass. “Wow, Phil. You didn’t tell me your family was rich! Did you grow up here?”

“Yeah, I grew up here.”

When he pulls up to the house, Clint nearly starts bouncing in his seat with excitement. He chuckles as he gets out and opens Clint’s door, holding out an arm to help him up. He lets go of Clint’s arm and hears the front door to his parent’s house open. He looks over to see Janie running up. He holds his arms out just in time for his little sister to jump into a hug. “Hey Janie.”

She puts her feet on the ground and steps back, looking at Clint. She holds out her hand, slowly. “Hi, Clint. I’m Janie. It’s nice to meet you. Phil has told me a lot about you, considering you have only known him for a week.” She winks as Clint smiles nervously and takes her hand. Phil is a little surprised that Clint could even manage to smile and shake her hand.

“I’ve heard a lot about you too. Trust me, we’ve had plenty of time to talk, considering he took the whole week off to make sure I wasn’t going to be uncomfortable.” Phil flushes at that.

Janie smirks at her brother. “I like him, Phil.” She turns back to Clint, “I like you already. Come on in, Phil can grab your stuff.” Janie locks arms with him and leads him to the front door. Clint turns his head to smile at Phil as Phil stands there with a gaping mouth.

Turns out, Clint fends just fine without Phil as he meets his parents. When Phil gets inside, he’s surprised to see his parents both talking to Clint, who is smiling and responding easily. When Phil greets his parents, he hears little bare feet padding down the stairs. He turns to see his niece, Abby, coming into the room in her pajamas. Janie turns to see her too and puts her hands on her hips, frowning at her daughter. “Abigail Phillis Coulson, what are you doing out of bed?”

“Heard talking. Uncle Phil!” she exclaims when she sees him, running up to him. He lifts the little girl up to hug her and kiss her cheek. She looks over his shoulder at Clint, frowning as she doesn’t recognize him. “Who is he?” she asks Phil.

“That’s my friend Clint. Can you say hi to him, Abby?”

She smiles, bright white baby teeth shining as she waves at Clint. “Hi, I’m Abby, I’m three.” Phil watches Clint as he listens to her. Then Clint steps forward a little and waves back. “Hi, Abby. It’s nice to meet you.” He smiles brightly at her, and Phil feels himself relax. Clint isn’t afraid of children, like he feared.

She giggles and presses her face into Phil’s shoulder. He puts his hand on her back as Janie says, “Okay. It’s time to go back to bed now, Abby.” She holds out her hands for her daughter, but she grips tightly to Phil’s jacket.

“Want Uncle Phil to do it.” She pouts.

“I can put her back to bed, Janie. Is she in the grandkid’s room?” he asks. She nods. He lets her kiss Abby again before carrying her upstairs with the bags. He sets them at the top of the stairs as he carries Abby into a room painted sky blue. On the ceiling, there are little glow in the dark stars on dark purple paint. The carpet is green and made to look like grass. There is even a yellow sun painted on a corner of one of the walls, and white clouds painted towards the top of the walls. It’s a cute room. He laughs whenever he sees his brother, Mike, go in it. The room used to be his, and Phil finds it hilarious that the big, tough, alpha’s room had been turned into a kiddie wonderland. There was a set of bunk beds in one corner, a toddler bed along one wall, and a crib along the same wall. There were toys everywhere, and the room was usually for the littler grandkids, while the older ones slept in rooms in other parts of the house and the guesthouse. Over Christmas, all of the grandkids were put in this room, sleeping bags littering the floor to make up for the lack of beds.

Phil puts his niece in the toddler bed, where it was apparent that she’d been sleeping. He tucked her under the covers and kissed her head. He grabbed a book off the floor near the bed, where Janie had obviously put it when she’d fallen asleep. He picks up where his sister left off, and Abby was asleep after he read only two pages. He shuts off the lights and leave the room, door closing half way behind him. When he came down, his mother and father were heading off to bed, and Janie and Clint were on the couch. Phil went to join them. The two were talking about medical school and GED’s. As hard as Phil tried to stay awake and listen, he found himself nodding off. When his head snapped up for the fifth time, everyone was silent. He looked over at Clint and Janie. Clint had his lips pressed together to keep from smiling, and Janie was trying to contain her laughter. Now, she’s laughing as quietly as she can, but hard enough that she has to wipe tears from her eyes.

“You know, you don’t have to stay up, just because I’m talking to your sister. I think she can manage to show me where I’ll be sleeping just fine.”

“Yeah. Besides, you’ve been driving all day and he spent half the trip sleeping in the passenger seat. Go sleep.” Janie says with a small smirk.

“You smirk more than Stark does.” Phil grumbles, but he slowly stands up. “Night, Clint.” A small smile pulls at Clint’s lips. “Night, Phil.”

With that, Phil turns to leave the room. He hears Janie call after him, “Goodnight to you too, bro!”

Phil drags his bag towards his room, and practically falls on his ass trying to take off his jeans. He throws the covers back and slides into his old bed. He falls asleep before his head hits the pillow.

In the morning, he wakes up to little sticky fingers pressing at his closed eyelids. He opens his eyes to see Abby hovering over his face. “Morning!” she chirps before sliding down his chest and off his bed. He groans, looking at the clock. It was nearly ten in the morning already, so he practically jumped out of bed and rushed to take a shower down the hall. When he came down, there was a muffin waiting for him on the dining room table. He could hear a lot of voices in the kitchen, and knew that his brother Jameson must be there, because he can hear Tina’s voice among the voices.

He grabs the muffin and walks into the kitchen. Janie, his mom, Tina, and Clint are all in the kitchen, cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Tina smiles at him and hugs him when he approaches her. “Wow, look who decided to join us,” Janie said sarcastically, and Clint laughed.

“You two, stop ganging up on Phil!” Tina joked. “He’s just sleepy.”

“Where’s my brother?” Phil asked, and suddenly felt a large hand pull him backwards. He nearly trips over his own feet, and lets out a very unmanly yelp as he’s pulled back into Jameson’s chest. He feels his brother mess up his hair with his fist. “Never mind,” he grumbles.

“Hey, baby bro! How come you left your friend to fend for himself in this house? Did you enjoy your beauty sleep too much?” Jameson asks, smirking.

“Beauty sleep ain’t gonna help his ugly mug!” Phil hears Mike say. “Hey everyone!”

Phil is then pulled into yet another awkward brother hug as his oldest brother messes up his hair further. When he’s let go, it’s so Tina and Janie and his mom can hug Mike. Sherry comes in behind him and helps Phil fix his hair. She hugs him gently before greeting everyone else and introducing herself to Clint.

All in all, Clint seems to be comfortable with his family, and Thanksgiving goes on without a hitch. Clint plays with the kids when everything is in the oven, and is suddenly all of Phil’s nieces and nephews’ favorite person. Phil is a little jealous. He used to be the favorite.

When Mike is loading his kids into the car, Clint joins him, helping happily. Phil stands on the front porch, watching with a smile. Sherry comes up and stands at his side. He wraps an arm around his sister-in-law. “You two are really cute together. And you are the happiest I’ve seen you in a long time.”

Phil frowns. “We aren’t together, Sher. He’s young, and I’m, well, not. And he’s got a really fragile heart right now.”

“Well, he just seems to adore you. So maybe his heart isn’t as fragile as you think. And I know you, Phil. I’ve known you since I was sixteen. I know when you are falling for someone, and you definitely have heart eyes for him.” Mike waves to her when they are ready to go and she waves back with a nod. Phil lets her go, but she leans forward to kiss his cheek. “Think about it, Phil. Love you.”

Phil watches her walk away, and Clint comes up to stand next to him. “Wanna go in? I think your mom said something about watching the dog show with Abby and Alex.” Phil nods, following him into the house. _Wow, I want to_ love _him._

_I know that you are something special. To you I’d be always faithful. I want to be what you always needed. Then I hope you’ll see the heart in me._


	13. Have You Ever Seen The Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exciting events in this shorter chapter! Sorry it is delayed a bit, I've been sick and busy but the one on Friday should be up on time. 
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o

Part Two

Chapter Thirteen: Have You Ever Seen The Rain

_Someone told me long ago, there’s a calm before the storm. I know, it’s been coming for some time._

When they get back to the city on Friday night, Clint gets a call reminding him of his appointment for the next morning. He confirms it and helps Phil sort through their laundry, tossing dark clothes into the washer and going to collect the clothes from before the trip from his room. Phil does the same, and they finish sorting the clothes easily. They sit on the couch when they are done, and Clint rests a hand on his stomach. He turns to look at Phil, who is staring at him silently, and he flushes. Then he feels it. It feels like butterflies at first, and then he feels a tiny nudge against his hand. He looks away from Phil, looking down at his stomach. Then, he feels it again. “ _Oh_.”

Phil shifts, worry rolling off him and hitting Clint like a brick. “Are you okay? What’s wrong? Is it the baby?” Phil has been acting weird since he talked to Sherry the other day, when Clint was helping Mike put the kids in the car.

“I’m fine. It’s just- the baby kicked me. I’ve never felt it before.” Phil’s eyes widen with wonder and awe, and Clint has to suck in a sharp breath at the expression. _Damn, hormones, go away so he can get rid of this crush._

Phil looks hopeful, “Can I…?”

“You wanna feel it?” Clint asks, a bit surprised. Phil always seemed cautious when it came to the baby. Phil nods. “Okay.” He grabs Phil’s hand and gently brings it to his stomach, where he’d felt the kick. For a minute, nothing happens. Then, Phil looks a little sad when he can’t feel anything, and Clint is feeling the same rush of attraction he’d felt before. Suddenly, the baby is kicking and Phil looks elated. He looks up at Clint, and Clint feels a rush of love and adoration coming from Phil. Just as quick as it came, it disappeared. But Phil is still smiling at him, seeming proud at being able to feel the baby.

“Wow, Clint. This is amazing. I’ve never felt a baby kick before.”

“Never? You have, like, a billion nieces and nephews!” Clint exclaims. Phil flushes, obviously embarrassed.

“I was never around when Sherry had her kids and Tina had her older kid; I was in school. And Janie was in school when she was pregnant with Abby. So I only really had a chance when Tina was pregnant with Alex, but I didn’t wanna ask her. I was embarrassed about never being around with the other kids, I didn’t want to be teased about that.”

Clint rests his hand on top of Phil’s, which is still resting on his stomach. “I don’t think they would have made fun of you, Phil. And I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

Phil smiles slightly, “It’s okay, Clint. I understand why you’d ask.”

They go to bed when the baby stops kicking.

They arrive at the doctor’s the next morning, bright and early. A nurse brings them back quickly, since they are one of the first appointments of the day. She takes Clint’s weight, and Clint can’t help but frown when he sees he’s gained five pounds. The nurse just smiles knowingly and says, “Don’t worry. It’s healthy to gain weight like that during a pregnancy.”

Clint sits on the exam table, unhappily, when they enter the room. Phil chuckles ta his expression, and he turns to face him. He pouts. “Not nice. How would you feel if someone told you that it was great that you were getting fat?”

Phil walks up to him and puts his hand over Clint’s, which is gripping the table tightly. “You aren’t getting fat, Clint. You are pregnant, and you are finally getting to a healthy weight for your progressing pregnancy.”

Steve knocks and enters a minute later. He raises an eyebrow at their joined hands, and Phil drops Clint’s hand like it’s on fire. Clint tries not to let it show how that hurt. “Well, Clint, you are certainly looking healthier than the last time you were here.” Then they begin to talk about the normal pregnancy stuff. After a while, Clint feels the shift in Steve’s behavior. “So, we’re gonna do another ultrasound this week, to check on your baby. But all the genetic testing came back fine. The heart is all you have to worry about with your baby. He or she did not have any other worrying results from any of the testing. So, let me go check on one more patient and I’ll come back and get you guys in a couple minutes.”

“Thanks, Steve.” Phil says, and Clint thanks him as well.

Soon, they are sitting while Clint gets another ultrasound. Steve tells him that the baby’s heart hasn’t changed, like they’d hoped. It hadn’t gotten better, but it hadn’t gotten worse. “We didn’t really do this last time, because we were so worried about the heart condition, but I can point out the baby’s features for you.” Clint turns to look at the screen, feeling Phil step closer. Steve points as he talks. “So, here is the baby’s head, and their spine. They have two eyes that are starting to develop very nicely. And a little button nose, two tiny lips, their arms and hands with ten little fingers that have tiny finger nails, and chest. Here is their bottom, and then their two legs and feet and all ten tiny toes.” Steve looks up at Clint, smiling softly. “Do you want to know the gender?”

It was a question Clint had been wondering the answer to for a long time. _Did he want to know the baby’s gender?_ There were good things about both knowing and not knowing. There would be an extra element of surprise when the baby was born if he didn’t know. And he wouldn’t be able to get as attached, in case something happened and the baby didn’t make it. But, if he knew, then he could call it by gender. And he could pick a name; it would make it more concrete. Clint nods. He’d decided at Thanksgiving that he wanted to know what he was having. Besides, they could only tell primary gender. He wouldn’t have to know if the baby was like him or if it was an alpha or a beta.

Steve smiles. “You are having a baby girl. Congratulations.” He shows him the baby’s genital area, and scribbles ‘ _It’s a girl_ ’ on the compute screen when he puts it back on the full body. “I’ll go print these.”

When Clint gets in a cab alongside Phil, he smiles and stares at the picture of his baby girl. _His daughter._

When they get home from lunch and grocery shopping, Clint calls Janie and Abby to tell them, over FaceTime on Phil’s laptop, and Phil calls his parents from his bedroom. Janie squeals in excitement, “Congrats, Clint! Did you hear that, Abby? Clint’s gonna have a baby girl, just like you!” Abby giggles. Clint listens to Janie give him advice about dealing with baby girls, and promises him to teach him about doing up girl’s hair at Christmas time.

Bucky calls as soon as he hangs up with them, on his new cell phone. “Maybe our kids will grow up together and fall in love.” Bucky suggests, and Clint blink in surprise.

“I didn’t know you were pregnant!” Clint shouts, and starts rambling. Bucky laughs in the background. “How far along are you?”

“Eight weeks,” Bucky says happily.

“Congratulations, man.”

“Nah, congratulations to you, Clint. A baby girl. Gosh, I don’t think Stevie and I would know how to handle a girl.”

“You want a boy, then?”

“I just want the baby to be heathy.” He pauses. “Sorry, Clint. I wasn’t thinking-”

“No, Bucky. Don’t be sorry. Never be sorry for wishing for a healthy kid.”

The two talk for a while longer, and Phil comes in on the phone with Sherry and Mike, and sits next to Clint on the couch. Clint grabs his hand and places it on his belly, letting him feel the baby kick. And, suddenly, Clint is struck with a fond feeling. This feels like they have been doing this forever. Like they were meant to do this forever. They call people and get calls from others as the night continues. Clint can’t help but feel a weird sense of being caught between happiness from finally having friends and, dare he say, family and worry for his daughter’s life.

_I want to know, have you ever seen the rain? I want to know, have you ever seen the rain comin’ down on a sunny day?_


	14. Like a Lion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this came up late! But it's here now, so yay. 
> 
> Here's a list of relationships in this fix because I know some people were confused.  
> Clint/Phil, Tony/Bruce, Bucky/Steve, Thor/Loki, Clark/Charlotte, Mike/Sherry, Jameson/Tina
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o, Maria Hill (26)-b, Nick Fury (33)-b, Clark Coulson (62)-o, Charlotte Coulson (65)-a, Mike Coulson (34)-a, Sherry Coulson (30)-o, Maggie Coulson (13)-a, Jeremy Coulson (7)-o, Sam Coulson (5)-b, Jameson Coulson (32)-b, Tina Coulson (30)-o, Nathan Coulson (8)-o, Alex Coulson (2)-b, Janie Coulson (22)-o, Abby Coulson (3)-o

Part Two

Chapter Fourteen: Like a Lion

_I know you’re lost, and confused. And longing for something new. Stand up, with me, and we’ll find a place where freedom blooms. Raise your head, open your eyes, and take it all in._

Clint is a little worried about going back to Phil’s family’s house. They were going to be there for two and a half weeks. From the Sunday before Christmas to the day after New Year’s day. And there were going to be way more people. Phil had two cousins, Janet and Macey, who were going to be staying there with their families. Janet had four kids and no mate, after her omega died in a car crash. The kids were Casey, who was fifteen and an omega, Jamie, who was twelve and an alpha, Josh, who was ten and an omega, and Sydney, who was six and a beta. Then Macey had a beta husband, Jeff. And they had two kids, Ashley, who was fourteen and an omega, and Benjamin, who was eleven and a beta. Phil did ’t really like Janet or Macey, but he said that Jeff was tolerable and the kids were mostly okay.

Clint had surprised himself by growing close to Phil’s sister and all of his nieces and nephews. He’d thought he’d be more nervous to meet them, but he was fine. He tried to steer clear of Mike and Jameson, because they were a little intimidating. And he hadn’t really gotten close to Tina or Sherry, but he’d liked their kids. And Phil’s parents had been alright.

He was telling all of this to Bucky and Natasha. Phil was working for the day, and Bucky had taken the day off work to go to the doctor. Natasha was planning on working through the holidays, so they told her to take vacation before everyone else took off to visit their families. Natasha didn’t have a family, and Bucky had lost his own when he was little. That’s how he’d met Steve. They were sent to the same foster home and had quickly become best friends. Love had come later, Bucky assured him. He was ten when he met Steve, who was only eight. So they hadn’t been at an age where they wanted to mate anytime in the near future. Nobody even thought anything of the two of them being so close.

“Maybe his cousins won’t be so bad,” Bucky says with a shrug.

“Maybe you’ll become BFFs with the teenager. She’s almost your age.” Natasha suggests, waggling her eyebrows suggestively, and Bucky elbows her in the ribs. “What?”

“It’s obvious he likes Phil, so don’t tease him about dating Phil’s cousin’s kid.”

Clint flushes. “What?! I don’t like Phil!” They both raise their eyebrows at him and he whimpers. “Is it really that obvious?” he whispers.

“Well, it’s obvious to all of us. But Phil is oblivious, just like you.” Natasha assures him and he frowns.

“I’m not oblivious. There’s nothing for me to be oblivious to.”

“You don’t think Phil likes you that way?” Bucky asks with a frown of his own.

Clint snorts a laugh, “Yeah, right. Cause he’s gonna like a stupid teenager who he picked up off the street. One who is pregnant from his rapist foster father, might I add! No, Phil deserves a nice omega who can be everything for him.” The two exchange a glance with each other, noticing how much this hurts him to talk about. “Besides, it’s just a silly crush. He’s the first alpha to be nice to me.”

Natasha shares a cab with him to get him home, and Clint thanks her when she waves off the cash Phil had given him for the cab home. Clint hears the cab waiting for him to buzz himself into the building and pull the door open. When he’s inside, he waves at Natasha, who waves back as the cab leaves. When Clint gets up to the apartment, Phil is already inside, cooking dinner. “Hey, Clint! Welcome home!” Phil calls.

“Hey!” Clint calls back as he hangs his coat up and shoves his mittens in the pockets and his hat in the hood. He freezes a little when he sees all the wrapped presents by the little fake tree they had decorated. Phil comes in and sees him looking. He smiles.

“Oh come on, I know you bought some for everyone too. Tony told you that we are doing Christmas with everyone tomorrow.” Clint nods. It’s true, Clint had gone out and bought gifts for all of their friends, as well as Phil’s family. Phil had given him a card and quite a bit of cash. “I bought some wrapping paper for you too, I can help you wrap all of yours tonight, if you want.”

“Thanks, but I think I can handle it.” Clint says, finally coming out of his thoughts. He smiles. “Besides, I bought something for you, too. Can’t have you finding your own present.” He winks and heads to his room.

“Paper is by your room, and dinner will be ready in half an hour.” Phil calls after him.

Clint grabs said wrapping paper and opens his door. He sets the paper on his bed and sits on the edge, pulling a big box out from under the bed. He pulls out the kids’ presents one by one. He’d wrap all of these now, in case Phil tried to come help him. By the time Phil was knocking on the door to tell him dinner was ready, Clint had finished wrapping all the kids’ presents and was working on the presents for the adults in Phil’s family. “Be right there.”

Phil made it a little game to try to ask Clint what he’d gotten him in the middle of other topics. Clint laughed each time and told him, “Good try.”

The next evening, Clint proudly helped Phil carry all the present to the car. He’d done a much better job wrapping than Phil had, and Phil was a little sulky about it. When they set off to the tower, Clint was practically glowing with anticipation. He couldn’t wait to see the looks on everyone’s faces when they opened their presents. They got there and talked until it was time to eat, and afterwards they all sat around drinking eggnog and hot chocolate and eating cookies. Finally, it was time to open presents. Clint happily handed out his gifts to everyone as everyone passed out their own gifts to everyone else.

“Youngest goes first.” Phil explained when everyone looked at Clint. He flushed and grabbed the present from Natasha. She’d gotten him a Starkpad and a purple case. Natasha went next, and opened the gift from Clint. Clint smiled as she opened the paper to reveal a new knife to replace the one she usually carried with her. It was black and red and nicely customized. Tony opened his gift from Clint, and found that it was a customized T-shirt that said, _‘Genius, billionaire, ~~playboy~~ , philanthropist_’ on the front and _‘If lost, please return to Stark Tower_ ’ on the back. Tony burst out laughing and everyone else laughed as well.

Clint got Loki a rare book on Norse Mythology, which he’d told Clint that he loved. And Clint got Steve some nice paints, and Thor got a few new tools. Bucky got two presents, one for him that was a child-proofed gun-safe with some rounds for his gun in there, and one for the baby that was an onesie that said _‘check out these guns’_. Phil got a new ugly Christmas sweater and a movie he’d wanted. And Bruce got a new book from his favorite biologist.

Clint got a lot of nice things; books and movies and baking supplies that he’d been forced to ask Natasha for. He’d gotten the same kind of gift from Phil, an ugly Christmas sweater and a movie he’d wanted. When everyone ran out of presents to open, Phil got up from his seat next to Clint. “Be right back, I think we forgot something!” When he came back, he had a bunch of presents pilled high in his arms. Then he put them in front of Clint. And Clint kind of froze.

“What’s all this?” He asked, looking at everyone suspiciously. “Well, you wouldn’t let us throw you a proper baby shower, so we decided to buy you stuff for the baby and give it to you now. You can’t refuse a present on Christmas.” Tony said with a shrug and a smirk.

“Guys…” Clint didn’t know what to say. “I don’t…”

“Hey, you don’t need to say anything.” Phil tells him. “We _wanted_ to do this for you and the baby.” Clint stares into his eyes, not finding a hint of something that would suggest otherwise and he nodded slowly, staring now at all the gifts.

“Come on, Barton, we’re getting old here!” Tony complains. So Clint grabs the first present.

In the end, Clint gets a lot of stuff. He gets a bath tub for the baby, one shaped like a pink whale, and some washcloths and towels from Thor. He gets a bunch of clothes, including an onesie that says, ‘ _AB/CD_ ’ from Tony, as well as a promise to pay for and assemble a crib of Clint’s choice once the holidays pass. He gets a bunch of parenting books for him and books for the baby from Steve. He gets a kitten bouncer/baby swing from Bruce, as well as the softest pink blanket he’d ever felt. He gets a bunch of fun baby toys from Bucky. He gets a bunch of bottles from Loki. Natasha gets him bassinet and some bedding for it. Phil hands him a bag, plump full of diapers and soft blankets.

“You guys are too much.” Clint says softly and hugs them all.

Tony lets them leave all of the baby stuff at the tower with a spare key, and promises he will bring it all to the apartment while they are gone. Clint falls asleep as soon as he and Phil say goodnight and he climbs into bed.

The next morning, they head off to Phil’s family’s, to celebrate Christmas.

_You might be scared, but that’s okay. ‘Cause life doesn’t always come so easily. You might get hurt, but that’s alright. You can put yourself back together. You can run away from the things they say. But unless you fight, it’ll never change. Now you might be scared, but in the end, you’ll be fearless like a lion. Oh, fearless like a lion._


	15. Don't You Know You're Beautiful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o, Maria Hill (26)-b, Nick Fury (33)-b, Clark Coulson (62)-o, Charlotte Coulson (65)-a, Mike Coulson (34)-a, Sherry Coulson (30)-o, Maggie Coulson (13)-a, Jeremy Coulson (7)-o, Sam Coulson (5)-b, Jameson Coulson (32)-b, Tina Coulson (30)-o, Nathan Coulson (8)-o, Alex Coulson (2)-b, Janie Coulson (22)-o, Abby Coulson (3)-o

Part Two

Chapter Fifteen: Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful

_Don’t you know you’re beautiful? Don't you know you're beautiful? Don't you know you're beautiful, just the way you are!_

“Clint!” Janie calls, hugging Clint tightly, minding the baby. “I missed you!” she practically sang. Phil stares at the two. _Does she not see her own brother standing next to Clint?_

“What, no hug for your dear old brother?” Phil asks with a slight frown.

“Eh. Clint’s more exciting. You’re old news.” Janie jokes, winking before hugging him. Clint smiles from next to Phil.

“Are the evil twins here?” Phil asks Janie, who nods as she steps out of the hug.

“Janet’s oldest daughter is kinda killing me. She’s all deathly silence and teenage angst. Ashley isn’t far behind her on that scale.”

“Yikes. I guess a lot’s changed in the past year, huh?”

Janie grabs a bunch of presents and Clint grabs as many as they’ll let him. Phil grabs their bags and the rest of the presents and carries them into the house. “Clint!” Nathan calls when he sees them. He rushes over and takes some presents from his aunt, showing Clint where the tree is as he rambles on about making snowmen in the backyard. Clint grins at Phil as he disappears with the eight-year-old. Phil doesn’t see Clint for a few hours, not until dinner is ready. Mike and his family are walking in just in time, the kids are running to put their bags in the living room and Mike is escaping out the kitchen door to cut through the backyard to put his and Sherry’s stuff in the guesthouse. Sherry walks in and kisses Phil’s cheek. He can tell she’s gonna ask about him and Clint, so he’s grateful when his mother shoves a bunch of plates at him and tells him to help set the table.

The near week before Christmas keeps them busy, helping people with last minute shopping and wrapping. The grandkids are having a blast though, and Clint is loving spending time with them. He helps with the kids so often that he feels like he’s always been a part of this huge family. Phil knows, he’d asked. On Christmas Eve, everyone packs their cars to go to mass. Phil tells Clint that they don’t have to go, but it _is_ a family tradition. So he tells Phil that he’ll be alright, and the two set off in Phil’s car, with Abby and Nathan in the backseat. Phil has noticed that those two spent most of their time at Clint’s side. As a result, Clint doesn’t really get the chance to interact with any adults. Phil would find that to be a huge plus if it were him, because most of the adults are kinda nosey.

Clint puts Abby between him and Phil, not that Phil minds. Because he just doesn’t. It’s not like he wanted to try to hold Clint’s hand while they sang Christmas carols or anything. _He’s not that pathetic._

When they get back, all the grandkids say goodnight to their parents so their grandma and grandpa can read a story to them. Janet and Macey’s kids are there too. Clint looks curious, so Phil drags him to the living room to indulge in this next family tradition. Phil watched as his mom opened the book and started to read aloud.

“’Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring. Not even a mouse! The stockings were hung by the chimney with care; in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there!” Clint’s eyes were brightly shining, and Phil smiled.

His father took over, “The children were nestled, all snug in their beds; while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads!” Clint suddenly leaned against Phil, and Phil missed a huge portion of the book as he stared at the young man nestled against him.

“And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name: “Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen!”” Clint looks up at Phil and Phil sees the tears. Phil helps him up and into the hall.

“What’s wrong Clint? Why are you crying?” Phil looks him over for signs of pain or injury.

“You are all too good to me, letting me barge in here like this,” Clint cries quietly.

“You aren’t barging in on us, Clint. We all care about you!” He pauses. “Okay, maybe Janet and Macey don’t, but they don't care about anybody!” Clint laughs a wet laugh. “Clint, why don’t you think you are good enough that people should care about you?”

“Because I’m not! I’m just some stupid teen you helped off the street. You feel bad because I’m pregnant, but it’s not fair that you have to pretend to care so much about me so I feel okay. I’m just a stupid slutty omega.” Clint whimpers out the last words.

“No, Clint. That’s not true. You are a smart, kind, beautiful omega. I care so much about you, I am not pretending. It’s just hard for me to understand how I could care for someone so _deeply_.”

The two grow silent as they hear, “But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight- “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!””

Clint hugs Phil tightly. “Thank you, for giving me this.”

_Let him go, let him fly! Keep your head up, get on with your life!_


	16. The Climb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. Big things are coming!
> 
> Characters: Clint Barton (17)-o, Phil Coulson (28)-a, Tony Stark (23)-o, Steve Rogers (25)-a, Bucky Barnes (27)-o, Natasha Romanoff (22)-a, Bruce Banner (30)-b, Thor Odinson (26)-a, Loki Odinson (23)-o, Maria Hill (26)-b, Nick Fury (33)-b, Clark Coulson (62)-o, Charlotte Coulson (65)-a, Mike Coulson (34)-a, Sherry Coulson (30)-o, Maggie Coulson (13)-a, Jeremy Coulson (7)-o, Sam Coulson (5)-b, Jameson Coulson (32)-b, Tina Coulson (30)-o, Nathan Coulson (8)-o, Alex Coulson (2)-b, Janie Coulson (22)-o, Abby Coulson (3)-o

Part Two

Chapter Sixteen: The Climb

_The struggles I’m facing, the chances I’m taking, sometimes might knock me down. But, no I’m not breaking. I may not know it, but these are the moments that I’m gonna remember most, yeah. Just gotta keep goin’._

The next doctor’s appointment with Steve is scheduled the morning after they get back from the holidays. Clint is excited to see his baby, but worried about what it is that Steve wanted to privately talk to him about. Phil is returning to work and Loki said he’d bring Clint to the appointment. Clint tells Loki about Christmas while they take the cab to the doctor’s office.

He’d been tired after opening presents with everyone on Christmas morning, but the kids had wanted to play, so he’d taken them out to the back yard. They built snowmen and a snow fort until his fingers had started to get numb. Phil was waiting for him with a mug of hot chocolate when they were called inside to get ready for the day. Snow pants, coats, hats, mittens, and boots were all stripped off in the doorway and Clint couldn’t help but smile. This is one sight he’d loved to see. So many kids, big and tiny, coming together to play in the snow before hardly making it inside in time for their parents to rip wet clothes from them. Clint had begun to feel even deeper feelings towards Phil. When it was time for dinner, Phil sat next to him and kept a hand on his back or on his hand the whole meal. Clint knew that Janie noticed, but he wasn’t sure if anyone else did.

Janet and Macey’s families left the day after Christmas. Everyone else seemed a lot easier to deal with, then. They spent the week after Christmas in ease, the kids playing with all their new toys, and the adults cooking the leftovers and debating which recipes were the best. Clint helped bake and cook a bunch that week. When New Year’s Eve came, the kids were excited to teach him more family traditions. Clint had never known that families could possibly have so many different family traditions. He learned that they all wore party hats and the kids wore glasses with the new year on them. He learned that they all order Chinese food and eat off paper plates before breaking out cheesecake and chocolate cake and eating their fill of whichever they wanted. Clint _loved_ these traditions. The baby loved them too.

Clint relaxed enough to allow people to fawn over him and the baby, after that talk with Phil on Christmas Eve. He finally believed that he was being accepted and, dare he say it, loved by Phil’s family. When Abby told him she loved him on New Years Eve when she let him take a bite of her chocolate cake, and he let her take a bite of cheesecake in return, his heart skipped a beat and he melted. All his walls he’d had up to protect him were crumbling to pieces from a little girl telling him she loved him.

Now, Clint was looking at his baby, who was growing bigger and bigger as the days went by. And Steve was sitting him down in his private office, while Loki sat in the waiting room. “Clint, there’s no easy way to say this. But I need you to know that this is something we need to take seriously.” Clint nods. “The thing is, we don’t know very much about your daughter’s condition, when it comes to unborn babies. It used to only be detected after children were born. But lately, we’ve been recognizing that it is something that often happens before birth. With our statistics on this condition, we know that not a lot of mothers make it out from this. The babies, as I told you earlier, are often born premature. The births are typically very stressful and hard on mothers.” He sighs, “Clint, your chance of survival is only eighteen percent.”

When Clint walks into the apartment, he feels the weight on his shoulders press him down further. Phil is there, and made chicken and bacon Alfredo, one of Clint’s favorite meals, but Clint wants to cry when he smells it. “Hey, Clint! Welcome home!” Clint finds that he can’t respond to him like he usually does. In fact, he feels a bit like he can’t breath. His thoughts are swimming, and he can’t help but be struck with a memory of his foster father.

 _“I’m going to kill you! I promise you, you slut. I will_ kill you _. And don’t think running will save you. I’ll find a way to kill you anyway.” Clint sees his face in his head, and feels his dirty hands on him, trying to push his head under the water of the full laundry tub. He pulls him up when Clint’s close to passing out. Clint gasps for breath but just as he starts to catch his breath he’s swallowing water again, and again, and again!_

“Clint! Clint! What’s wrong, open your eyes, Clint! Look at me. Please. Oh God, oh God. No, breathe for me, Clint! God, do not take him away from me! I won’t have him die!” Phil’s yelling. Finally, Clint is pulled out his head and he starts to gasp for breath. “Oh, Clint!” Phil pulls him into his arms. “Shh, slow breaths, Clint. Nice and even. Shh.” Clint starts to breathe normally again, and Phil pulls away from the hug, looking him in the eye. “Are you okay?” Clint nods, blinking tears away. They burn hot paths down his cheeks.

Phil leads him to the kitchen and sits him down in his usual chair. “Are you hungry?” he asks, and Clint nods. “Okay. I’ll make us some plates up.” He scoops food onto two plates and sets them down on the table. “What was that all about, Clint? You haven’t had a panic attack in so long…”

“There’s something I have to ask you to do for me, Phil. And it’s kinda a big deal.” Phil takes his hand and nods. “If I die, you need to take care of her for me. You need to take care of my daughter for me.”

“What do you mean if you die? You aren’t dying, Clint. It was just a panic attack-”

“No, Phil. You don’t understand. They told me I will probably die.”

“What? Who told you that, Clint?” Phil looks so confused that Clint whimpers slightly.

“Steve did. Steve told me that I only had an eighteen percent chance of living through the birth.”

“He told you that today? When you were alone?” Clint nods. “What was he thinking?”

“That you’d be upset, like you are. He said it would be best if he told me that alone, and let me tell you.” Phil groans out a heavy sigh and pulls his hand off of Clint’s to set his head in his hands.

”Will you do that for me, Phil?” Phil’s shoulders slouch into an almost submissive position.

“You aren’t gonna die.”

_It’s all about, it’s all about the climb!_


	17. Fools

Part Two

Chapter Seventeen: Fools

_Friends, I watch us as we change. The feelings in my headspace rearrange. I want you more than I’ve wanted anyone. Isn’t that dangerous?_

“Phil, be serious. There’s a high chance that I won’t make it, so I need to know-”

“You aren’t gonna die, Clint.”

“Phil, please.”

“You _can’t_ _die_.” That’s when Clint realizes that Phil’s crying.

“Phil. Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry.” Clint puts his hand on Phil’s shoulder and suddenly the room is filled with loud sobbing. Clint’s eyes fill with tears at the sound. “Please don’t cry.” Clint whispers.

“I won’t watch you die, Clint. I just can’t do it. I care so much- I can’t…. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I had no friends when I was a kid, and I got bullied every day. When I’d come home, my brothers would tease me about not having any friends. I had no life outside of school and comic books. I was such a _nerd_.” Clint just sits there as the word vomit comes out of Phil. “I read comic books of super heroes, like _all of them_. And then I hit puberty, and my brothers told me that they thought the doctors were wrong, that I wasn’t an alpha. They said that there was no way I was an alpha, with the way I was such a lonely loser. I prayed for the day that I’d get out of that town. Then high school came, and I really learned what the social norms were and why everyone bullied me for sticking outside of them.

“By then, Mike was gone off to college and was getting nicer and Jameson was calming down a bit and becoming more like a beta, and he was preparing to go to college too. So I had time to really find myself. Sherry, actually, was one of my best friends. But she and Mike had been friends since she was a freshman and he was a held-back senior; and I became friends with her when she was sixteen and I met her at a pre-freshman-year party. I was fourteen and had zero interest in her, but I knew Mike did. Her parents always wanted the two of us to get together instead, but then Sherry got pregnant when she was seventeen, with Maggie, and they agreed to let her become Mike’s mate, since he loved her and loved their daughter. Then Sherry went to live with Mike off near his school, and I was alone again.”

“Would you have mated Sherry, if she hadn’t had Maggie?”

“No, I loved Sherry, but only as a friend and a sister. Besides, I knew I was interest in, uh, men.” Phil flushes bright red.

“But you never found anyone who truly made you happy?”

“No, I tried dating once I go to college, but nobody ever mattered that much to me. When I got my job at Stark Industries, I had resigned myself to live a lonely life. I made friends here, obviously, but nobody I cared about as much as you. I’ve never had anyone like this, Clint. Who I could care for, but who I could depend on. It was never so easy, forming a friendship as it was with you. The thought of losing you… it tears me apart inside.”

“Phil….”

“If you die, I’ll take care of her, Clint. But I want you to know- I need you to know why I’d do it. And that’s why. I was a lonely kid and a lonely adult, and you cured my loneliness.” Phil stares into Clint’s eyes and Clint freezes a little. Phil slowly leans forward, and there is no mistaking what he’s gonna do. Phil is going to kiss him, and he is being given plenty of time to back out. But he’s not. Phil’s eyes are closed as he presses his lips to Clint’s. Suddenly, Clint is getting everything he’s wanted for months. Suddenly, he’s being _kissed_ by _Phil_.

But he can’t move.

_What if we ruin it all, and we love like fools? And all we have, we lose? I don’t want you to go, but I love you so. So tell me what we choose._


	18. I Just Wanna Love You part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. This is kinda a mean, short chapter. Last chapter of part two! Maybe I'll give you guys another chapter this weekend if you comment! ;)

Pat Two

Chapter Eighteen: I Just Wanna Love You pt. 1

_Take the blame off your back, it's a burden you don't own. Lay your head in my arms, and I will be your home. You can't carry this alone._

Phil pulls away from Clint’s lips when he realizes that Clint isn’t kissing him back. He looks into the frightened eyes of the only person he’s ever cared about like this. _He fucked up, he can’t believe he fucked up. Now he’ll never trust you. Fix it!_  

“Clint, I…”

“I’m sorry, Phil. I just… I’m scared.”

“Scared of what, Clint? Of me? Of my feelings for you, because I have a lot of feelings for you. Please let me love you. Please let me take care of you. You don’t need to be scared of me, Clint. There’s no reason to be afraid of me. I won’t do anything you don’t want, but please think about letting me be with you. Give me a chance. I can be so good for you! And you are already so good for me.” 

Clint backs away a little, and Phil feels his heart drop. _Oh God, he fucked_ everything _up._

“Clint, please don’t be afraid. _Please_.” The words fall off of Phil’s lips before he can even think them. 

“I… Phil, I can’t. You’re just confused. You’ve been around me too much so you think you want me, but trust me, you don’t.” Clint is backing out of the kitchen, now. That’s when Phil notices that he’d interrupted dinner, and neither he nor Clint had touched their food. _God, he was such a bad alpha. No wonder Clint didn’t want him and didn’t believe him._

“No, Clint, I’m _not_ confused. Please don’t leave. You haven’t eaten, and you told me that you were hungry. You need to eat and you… you just _need to stay,_ please.” Phil is whining now, slightly, but he hardly notices that he is doing it, because _Clint is leaving the kitchen._ Clint walks quickly through the apartment, back turned to Phil and Phil is following him. Clint gets into his bedroom and pulls open the closet. Phil sees him grab his duffle bag and he _growls._ Clint freezes, and Phil knows that any chance he had to get Clint to stay has been thrown out the window. Because, _growling_ , seriously?! What was he thinking? “I’m sorry!” Phil apologizes quickly, and Clint sets his bag on the bed and unzips it. He starts shoving clothes and his prenatal vitamins and medicine to try to help the baby’s heart into the bag, and Phil’s vision is blurring. 

It takes Phil a whole five minutes to realize that his vision is blurred from _tears_. _He’s crying_. _And Clint’s leaving._ Clint walks up to him, putting a hand gently on Phil’s arm. “Phil, I won’t be gone forever, okay? I’m gonna go stay with someone else to give you a chance to clear your head and figure out why you seem to think you want to be with me. Okay? I’m not going back to the streets. I’ll go stay with someone else, so don’t worry.” Clint walks past him, out into the hallway, and he looks over his shoulder at Phil, who’s watching him _leave_. “And don’t try to follow me.”

Phil stands there, lost and confused, until he hears the door to the apartment open and close. Then he sobs and slides down the wall, head in his hands as he cries. 

_And I just wanna love you. I don't wanna change you or judge you. I just wanna love you, but darling you have to learn to love you too._


	19. Broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's an extra chapter! xoxo

Part Three

Chapter Nineteen: Broken

_I am damaged at best, like you’ve already figured out. I’m falling apart, nearly breathing. With a broken heart, that’s still beating. In the pain, there is healing. In your name, I find meaning._

Clint is nervously pacing in front of the door to the apartment building. He can’t bring himself to press the button to call up to the apartment, too worried that he’d be turned away and he’d have to try to find somewhere else to stay. He was caught off guard when he hears a familiar voice call, “Clint?” And Clint turns around to see Steve and Bucky walking up to the building. Steve is frowning and staring at the bag on Clint’s shoulder. Bucky walks up the stairs and pulls him into a hug. “What happened?”

Clint sniffs a little and some tears spring to his eyes. _“Phil kissed me.”_ Bucky’s expression becomes confused and he opens his mouth to respond before Steve reaches them.

“Let’s go inside and talk,” Steve suggests with a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. Clint is suddenly aware of the people watching them as they pass by the steps. Bucky nods and grabs the key to buzz them in. Clint follows the pair up to their apartment. Once inside, Bucky helps him take off his coat and Steve takes the bag from Clint. “I’ll go make up the spare room.” When Steve disappears down the hall, Bucky drags Clint to the couch. 

“Why are you so broken up about Phil kissing you? I thought that’s what you wanted?”

“I thought it was too! And then he kissed me and I-I-I just froze!” Clint squeaks. 

“Clint… did you guys talk about your feelings? And what you wanted from each other and stuff?” 

“No. He told me he had feelings for me, but I felt like he was just making stuff up because the alpha part of him wanted some sort of omega around, and I was the only unmated one around him.” Bucky cuts off his rambling with a stern look. “What?” Clint asks with a whine.

“Clint, you really think Phil is that shallow?”

Clint puts his head in his hands, shoulders shaking slightly. “I don’t know, Bucky! I mean, he’s a great guy. I just think, I dunno, that maybe I’m giving off some pheromones or something that are clouding his brain.” Bucky starts to laugh quietly, but Clint can hear him. He feels his friend put a hand between his shoulder blades and lightly start rubbing and massaging. “Don’t laugh, I’m having an existential crisis or something!” At that, Bucky starts to laugh loudly. Clint sits up to glare with a pout. 

“I’m sorry, Clint. I love ya, but you are just something else. Giving off pheromones? Jesus, Clint. You aren’t giving off any pheromones. However, you _have_ been unconsciously trying to prove that you would be a good omega. He was talking about it with Nat the other day, and I was listening in. He said you have been making food and sweets, and cleaning up before he can get home. He says you’ve been kinda killing him with all of the little things you do, even though he thinks you have no idea what you are doin’. I, however, know the truth. You know what you are doing, you just didn’t think it was doing anything to you.” 

Clint flushes and shifts around in his seat. “He said that?” 

“You are avoiding the part where you admit you did do those things on purpose.” 

“So, _maybe_ I did. But I didn’t think they were working! And I actually _do_ like making food and desserts. Everyone just assumes that omegas only do things to please their alphas or their intended alphas, but they don’t ever think that maybe omegas like to do those things!”

Bucky raises an eyebrow. “Relax, Clint. You’re preaching to the choir.” 

“Sorry.”

The two talk for a little while, about their babies and, before long, Steve comes back. “Clint, would you like some lasagna? We have leftovers from dinner.” 

Bucky looks at Clint, “You haven’t eaten?”

Clint gives a sheepish smile and a shrug, “We were gonna eat dinner, but then everything happened and…” 

Bucky ushers him into the kitchen and helps Steve heat up the leftovers. Clint eats slowly, and Steve brings Bucky into the other room to talk. _About him_ , Clint’s sure. He knows that Steve obviously called Phil, _which is fine_. They come back and Bucky sits next to him, “You can stay here as long as you need, but you have to talk to Phil, sooner rather than later. Deal?”

Clint nods, continuing to eat his supper.

_The broken locks were a warning, you got inside my head. I tried my best to be guarded, I’m an open book instead._


	20. Hey Brother

Chapter Twenty: Hey Brother

_Hey, brother! There’s an endless road to rediscover. Hey, sister! Do you still believe in love, I wonder?_

When Clint wakes up in the morning, he wonders where he is. Then, he remembers what happened between Phil and him. So he sighs and gets out of bed as best he can, the baby is making doing the simplest of tasks harder and harder these days. When he gets to the kitchen, Steve is sitting there with a mug of coffee. He smiles at Clint. “Good morning, Clint. How are you feeling?” 

“Oh, I’m fine. Is Bucky still asleep?”

Steve nods, taking another sip from his mug. “Bucky’s not exactly a morning person. He sleeps as long as he can, because his nightmares from the accident can keep him up a lot at night. So when he gets good sleep, he takes advantage of it.” Clint nods. 

Bucky had told him all about the accident which had given him a metal arm. He’d been fifteen and he and Steve had been walking alone on the side of a dark street. A driver lost control of his vehicle and had been coming right for them. Bucky pushed Steve out of the way, and had probably saved his life. Bucky had been thrown over the hood of the car and had landed too hard on the street. His arm was gone beyond repair, and when he’d woken up in the hospital, Steve was so worried. He told him that they were gonna give him a prosthetic arm, but Bucky hated the one he got. Being in the system meant that his they would only cover so much, so he’d gotten a very low end prosthetic. When he met Tony, he’d been given a job and a promise of a new arm. Tony built him his cool metal arm, and had they had been friends ever since.

“I’ll wake him up in about an hour for breakfast. Wanna help me make some pancakes?” Clint nods. The two busy themselves with making pancakes, from scratch, with blueberries in them. 

It was the first time that Clint and Steve had ever really been alone, outside of doctor’s visits, and Clint found out a lot of cool stuff about him. He’d become a doctor because his mother had been a nurse when she was alive, and he wanted to help people like she helped people. Steve showed him a picture of himself at thirteen, right before Bucky’s accident, and Clint had to laugh out loud. The big, strong alpha that stood in front of him today used to be a short, scrawny, pipsqueak of a boy. They had told him that he’d probably never be healthy enough to be a real alpha, and to have kids without some medical intervention. And then, only a few weeks after Bucky got out of the hospital, he shot up like a weed. He gained weight and muscles and found himself looking more and more like an alpha every day. A picture of him just a year after the first picture made Clint’s jaw drop. 

“I smell pancakes.” Bucky mumbled groggily as he entered the room. “Ooh, blueberry,” he says, suddenly more awake. “Coffee?” he asks Steve. 

“Decaf, Buck. There’s a pot on right now.” 

“Aw, Stevie, you’re no fun.” 

Steve rolls his eyes, “There’s still a little caffeine in there and you know it.”

“Still. It tastes weird.”

“Everything tastes weird when you’re pregnant,” Clint reminds him. “It’s like your tastebuds are on edge, just like your body.”

The three sit down to eat and then Clint goes to get dressed for the day, as do Bucky and Steve. They all kinda do their own thing for the rest of the morning. Steve goes to paint in his bedroom, and Bucky sprawls himself out on the couch to watch TV. Clint grabs a book off of their bookshelf to read. Steve leaves for work around eleven, and Clint and Bucky eat sandwiches and berries for lunch. 

“I haven’t told anyone else this, Clint. You’re the first to know. Well, other than Stevie.” 

“What is it, Bucky?”

“I’m having twins.”

“Twins?!” Clint exclaims happily, hugging his friend, who laughs at him. “Wow, Bucky, that’s so cool.”

“I know. Steve says they are fraternal twins, but we won’t know the genders until another five weeks or so.”

“Wow, man, I’m so happy for you.” Clint smiles and he starts asking Bucky a bunch of questions about the babies. The two talk for hours.

When Steve gets home, he brings back a bunch of different soups and breads. “Can you guys set the table while I change?” They nod and go to set the table. A minute later, there’s a knock on the door. “I’ll get it!” Bucky exclaims, practically running to the door. Clint raises an eyebrow at the suspicious behavior. He follows Bucky, who opens the door. And there is Phil. Clint shifts uncomfortably. “Oh, Phil, what a surprise! Come on in.” 

Phil walks in, smiling softly when he sees Clint. “Clint…” 

Clint walks over, slowly. “I’m sorry I ran.” 

“It’s okay, Clint. It’s completely normal to run when someone scares you like I did. I should have talked to you about my feelings, instead of just… jumping you, like that.” Bucky waggles his eyebrows at Clint before smiling and leaving the room. 

“You didn’t jump me, Phil. I just… got overwhelmed, I guess. I ran because I was scared,  but not because I was scared of you. I was scared that I was finally getting what I wanted, but I didn’t know what to do with it. And I was worried that it’d ruin our friendship, and then I’d die and you would hate my baby. I didn’t want you to want to give her up, because she reminded you of me. I didn’t want to mess things up and lose you forever, if I do make it through having her. It’s not like I could expect you to love me, despite having my daughter be from some strange alpha. And to love her. Because she isn’t yours, I didn’t want you to be forced to live with an omega who already had a baby. It’s not fair to you, and it wouldn’t be fair to her to make you live with her if you hated her.” 

_Oh, if the sky is falling down, for you. There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do._


	21. I Just Wanna Love You part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it!

Part Three

Chapter Twenty-One: I Just Wanna Love You pt. 2

_You hide behind your massive stone, but you don’t have to be alone. A thousand lives you could have lived, but you’re the one you still need to forgive._

Phil is stunned at what Clint’s saying. “Clint… I didn’t make my feelings clear. I love you, and I love your daughter. I love the two of you so much. I can’t imagine a world where the two of you don’t exist in my life. I want to be a family, the three of us. I want to be your alpha. But I also want to be her father. I know I’ll never be her biological father, but that doesn’t bother me. It isn’t like you were in love with him. It isn’t like he’ll ever find us and try to take the two of you from me. I am ready to be your everything. And I know that you want to be mine, too. I’m not going to rush things between us. We can go as slow as you want. But, Clint, I _do_ want this. I _do_ want _you_. And I want your daughter to live as my daughter. _Our daughter_.”

Clint’s eyes well up with tears, and Phil mentally kicks himself. But then Clint is rushing forward and kissing him. _Clint’s kissing him_. He kisses back when his shock wears off, and puts his hands on Clint’s cheeks, brushing off tears with his thumbs. Clint leans back far enough to speak. “I love you, Phil. We both love you.” Clint says, patting his stomach lightly. He kisses Phil again and again, little pecks. “I. Love. You. So. Much.” 

“God, Clint,” Phil shudders at the love Clint’s pouring into the kisses and the words. Then, Phil remembers where they are and he pulls back. Clint pouts and Phil laughs, kissing the pout away. “We have to stop. We’re at Steve and Bucky’s place, and we need to go eat dinner with them like polite guests. Instead of continuing to be passion-filled guests who make out in their living room.” Clint flushes, and Phil laughs. He takes Clint’s hand and leads him to the kitchen. 

Bucky and Steve are sitting at the table, staring at them, when they enter the room. Bucky’s smirking at Clint, and Steve is smiling at Phil. “Stop it,” they both say to their friends. Bucky hugs Clint as he sits next to him. 

“I’m happy you guys got your heads out of your asses. Wait until I tell Nat.” Bucky’s eyes are shining mischievously, and Clint shakes his head at him with a smile. 

They all eat dinner, and Bucky tells Phil their news, and they talk about Steve and Bucky’s plans to move out of the city before the babies are born. Clint can’t stop smiling and watching Phil eat and talk. Phil doesn’t let go of his hand the whole meal. This is where they were meant to be. 

_I will count every line this life has carved in you. Beauty lies in these eyes ‘cause I can see the truth. I see the strength in you._


	22. Hear You Me

Part Three

Chapter Twenty-Two: Hear You Me

_There’s no one in town I know. You gave us someplace to go. I never said thank you for that._

Months pass. Clint is getting closer and closer to his due date. He goes out with Phil to buy all of the stuff that he doesn't have yet for the baby. Phil and him grow even closer, though everything has stayed strictly PG-13 between them. They even share a room now, but everyone keeps a good amount of clothes on. Phil cuddles him close at night, though Clint always wakes up without someone holding him. Clint doesn’t know why, but he knows why _he_ doesn’t cuddle towards Phil in the morning, himself. Morning wood was _not_ a great way to keep things PG-13. 

He and Natasha throw Bucky a baby shower in his and Steve’s new house, complete with all the cheesy games, decorations, and desserts. Bucky loves it, and Clint finds it pretty enjoyable. Natasha spends most of the time trying to get out of playing the games and participating in anything too over-the-top. She hides in the bathroom when Bucky opens the present from her. But Bucky goes to bring her out, grinning when he returns to the party, dragging the alpha behind him. Bucky has had Clint and Phil order two reveal cakes made, having not yet told anyone the gender of the baby, or that there were two of them. 

Clint was super excited, since he already knew the genders, and Phil practically has to restrain him from buying everything in the store that the couple had went to to buy the presents from. Now, Bucky and Steve were cutting into the cake that said _‘He or she? Open up to see!’_ on it in both pink and blue frosting. They each stuck a knife in to cut a piece together, and pulled it up. The cake inside was blue, and some people cheered, having made the right prediction, and everyone was smiling happily. Bucky and Steve shared a kiss and Steve rubbed Bucky’s belly. Then, Clint went to do his job, revealing the second cake. “Guys, I have something else, hold on.” Bucky and Steve smiled and then others looked thoroughly confused. “Did you guys wanna cut this one too?” He brings the cake to the counter, and everyone is surprised. This one said, _‘Surprise! There’s two little ones inside!’_ When they cut into this cake and lifted the piece, it was pink cake. Everyone was so excited, and Bucky and Steve exchanged a nervous smile before they kissed again. 

It was the best baby shower ever, Clint decided. Phil had held him close the whole time that they ate cake, and while Bucky opened the presents. When everyone was leaving, Natasha came up and swatted lightly at his arm. Clint is proud to say that gone were the panic attacks that would have come from even the lightest of friendly hits. “Way to share the news, _best friend_.” 

“Well, it wasn’t my news to share, Tasha.” 

She pulls him into a hug, “I know. The surprise was worth it.” 

Bucky and Steve thank him when he, Phil, and Natasha leave later, when everything was cleaned up. Clint congratulates them and wishes them luck in preparing to take care of a girl _and_ a boy. He knows they’ll do fine. 

Phil drives Natasha home before they go back to the apartment. When he parks, he gets out to help Clint out. Clint, at nearly thirty-three weeks pregnant, gladly excepts the help. If he were to be honest, he was extremely worried. The baby would likely come soon, with Steve’s prediction being that he would give birth at thirty-five weeks. So, Clint was extremely on edge when it came to the baby. Soon he would be going into labor and having his daughter. And there were so many unpredictable factors that came with it. Premature labor would bring one set of complications for the baby. She could be underdeveloped. She could need oxygen and heat lamps in an incubator, which meant nobody would be able to touch her more than necessary. She could even _die_. And then there’s her heart condition. She could need assistance to keep her heart beat steady. She could need care for as short as a few hours to as long as her entire life. 

And then there were the complications that could affect _him_. He could need to get an emergency C-section, sense she could turn herself the wrong way and could  be breach. He could need oxygen of his own. He could need to be put under. Or _he_ could die. The only thing that he knew, going in, was that, if he died, he knew his daughter would be well taken care of and very loved. Phil and his whole family loved her already. All of their friends loved her so much, and Steve was a doctor, so he could easily help Phil, if he needed it. And she’d have Bucky’s kids, who’d be born several months after her. 

“Clint? What’s wrong?” Phil asked, hand on his back, rubbing gently. 

“Ah, nothing, Phil.” Clint tried to lie. 

“Clint. I can tell you’ve been thinking about something serious. So just tell me what it is.” 

“It’s just… I’m getting worried about having the baby.” 

“Clint…. Don’t worry about this stuff right now. You don’t need extra stress right now, okay?”

Clint nods, pressing his lips together. He smooths his hand down his stomach, feeling the baby move against him.

That night, as Clint laid next to Phil in the bed, he prayed for the first time since that fateful day in the alley. _God, let me have this baby. Please, even if you need to take me instead, let her live._  

_And if you were with me tonight, I’d sing to you just one more time. A song for a heart so big, God wouldn’t let it live._


	23. I See The Light part one

Part 3

Chapter Twenty-Three: I See the Light- Clint

_All those days, watching from the windows. All those years, outside looking in. All that time, never really knowing just how blind I’ve been. Now I’m here, blinking in the starlight. Now I’m here, suddenly I see. Standing here, it’s all so clear, I’m where I’m meant to be._

When Clint wakes up in the morning, he hears Phil trying to get out of bed without waking him. He smiles as he watches the alpha try to sneak around the room, gathering clothes for the day. He trips over his feet and catches himself on the door, loudly and clumsily. Clint pinches his eyes shut as Phil turns to see if he woke him up. Phil sighs, seemingly satisfied with what he sees from Clint, and Clint can’t help but giggle. His eyes are still shut, but he can hear Phil turn around quickly. He presses his lips together. There is silence for a minute, and Clint thinks that maybe Phil left the room. So he opens his eyes and Phil is standing right next to him. The screech Clint lets out is not a bit manly. Phil laughs so hard that Clint worries that he may pass out from all the blood rushing to his head, causing the man to turn red from all his laughter. 

Then Phil is sitting on the edge of the bed and kissing the living daylights out of him. “God, Clint, I love you.” 

“Well, Mr. Clumsy, do we need to send you back to the doctors? Getting clumsy in you old age?” Clint smiles, but then Phil is putting his hands on his ribs and is tickling him. 

“Ah! S-s-stop!” Clint laughs. 

“Come on, darlin’, tell me you love me.” Phil teases. 

“I-I-I love y-you!” Clint stutters through the laughter. Phil grins and stops tickling him. He leans forward to press another kiss to Clint’s lips. 

 “I’m gonna take a shower. Stay in bed, read a book to the baby or something.” Phil gets up, kissing Clint’s stomach before he leaves. 

Instead, Clint rubs his stomach and talks to his daughter. “He’s so silly, huh, baby?” He receives a kick to his moving hand. “Papa is such a good man, baby. He loves the two of us so much. His love is so blinding that I don’t know how I didn’t know how he felt, before. But I know we are going to be loved by him, for a long time. I love him, and I thought I’d never love someone like that. I thought it would be you and me, alone. But now everything has changed. He has changed _everything_. We are meant to be here, baby. I just know it, he’s just showed me.” 

Clint sits there then, thinking to himself. He meant every word he said. He knew things were different now. He knew Phil loved him. He knew that Phil didn’t want to back out any time soon. And Clint didn’t want him to. He wanted his old dream, with Phil. He wanted to be with Phil forever, and he wanted to be his _everything_.

_And at last I see the light. And it’s like the fog has lifted. And at last I see the light. And it’s like the sky is new. And it’s warm and real and bright, and the world has somehow shifted. All at once, everything looks different, now that I see you._


	24. I See The Light part two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part Four is on it's way!

Part Three

Chapter Twenty-Four: I See the Light- Phil

_All those days, chasing down a daydream. All those years, living in a blur. All that time, never truly seeing things, the way they were. Now she’s here, shining in the starlight. Now she’s here, suddenly I know. If she’s here, it’s crystal clear, I’m where I’m meant to go._

Phil wakes up and sees Clint sleeping next to him. He was really, truly beautiful. Phil laid there for a few moments, just admiring the view and thinking about this wonderful man. Phil was so head-over-heels in love with him that it was driving Phil a little crazy. He had been praying for so long, that Clint and the baby would be safe, and he felt the same anxiousness that he knew Clint was feeling. He prayed that things would go their way, and that he would get to take both Clint and his daughter home. Phil had begun to slowly consider himself her father, and he had been feeling everything that an alpha would normally feel if their mate was pregnant with their baby. He was crazily protective, and he was astonishingly happy and excited to meet her. With every ultrasound picture they received and every piece of furniture they bought her, he got even more excited. 

Now, he stared at the teen who he’d come to consider his best friend and intended mate. The omega had had a long day, the day before. And he knew Clint needed his sleep, especially now. But Phil had to get ready, so he could go to work. So Phil tried his hardest to get out of bed without waking the sleeping omega. He slipped out of bed and walked as slowly and as quietly as he possibly could around the room. He grabbed his pants and boxers and his undershirt and button up. He’d come back for his jacket after he got showered and dressed. He went to leave the room and tripped over absolutely nothing, scrambling to grab at the door to catch his fall. He froze, knowing how loud he’d been. He turned around quickly, trying to see if he woke Clint. But he seemed to be asleep, so Phil sighed a sigh of relief, turning back around to leave the room. Then there was giggle from behind him, and he whipped his head around again, sure that Clint was awake now. 

He was even more silent than before as he crept up to the bedside, ready for a surprise attack on Clint. Sure enough, his beautiful blue eyes opened and he let out a hilarious sound that had Phil all but rolling on the floor with his laughter. Clint is trying to calm back down, and Phil briefly wonders if he truly scared him, but then Phil calms down and sits next to him. “God, Clint, I love you.” Then he’s kissing him, deeply. When he pulls away, Clint is smiling at him. 

“Well, Mr. Clumsy, do we need to send you back to the doctors? Getting clumsy in you old age?” And Phil can’t help but tickle him over his ribs. The man starts laughing so hard. “Ah! S-s-stop!”

“Come on, darlin’, tell me you love me.” Phil teased him, loving the shade of pink Clint was turning. 

“I-I-I love y-you!” Clint stutters through his laughter. Phil grins and stops tickling him. He leans forward to press another kiss to Clint’s lips. He tries to put all of his love in this kiss. 

He wants so badly to tell Clint what he’d been planning for so long. But he doesn’t and instead says, “I’m gonna take a shower. Stay in bed, read a book to the baby or something.” He kisses Clint where the baby rests, and goes back to grab his clothes and go down the hall. Something makes him turn around and walk back towards the room, pausing to see what Clint would do. He hears him talking, then, about Phil. He talks about the three of them being exactly where they are meant to be, and Phil couldn’t agree more.

A week passes, and now Phil is getting a little worried about Clint giving birth. He calls him several times a day while he’s at work, just to make sure he’s alright. Clint laughs when Phil calls him for the third time in one day, “Phil, I’m not just gonna suddenly pop out a kid at any given moment. If I go into labor, it will likely take hours, so you don’t have to call every hour. I’ll call you if something happens.” 

Phil flushes and he nods and lets out a breath, “Okay. Sorry. I just don’t wanna miss anything.” 

“You aren’t going to miss it, Phil. I promise.” This doesn’t stop Phil from worrying, but he does stop calling so often. When the next week comes, he calls in the middle of his eight hour shift and then tries to relax so he won’t call again until he’s leaving the tower. It’s all too tempting to just grab his phone between meetings and dial Clint’s number, but he tries to control himself. When Maria Hill walks into his office after his latest meeting, she raises an eyebrow at him. Natasha is following her, eating her salad she’d gotten for lunch. He was sitting at his desk, staring at the phone and fighting the urge to call Clint again. 

Maria rolls her eyes, “Wow, you are really going all alpha instinct on him, huh?” Maria has been Phil’s friend for years. They had met when Phil got his job here, and she was working as his boss’s assistant. Now, she had worked her way up to having her own assistant. The point is, Maria had known him for a long time. She’d met Clint on several occasions, and knew what Phil was planning for him. Nick, his boss and good friend, also knew, but he didn’t care the way Maria did. 

“What do you mean?” Phil asks, shuffling paperwork around. 

“Well, you know, they say an alpha gets super anxious when their omega is getting close to giving birth. They get all protective and concerned. You are most definitely exhibiting all the normal signs of an overprotective alpha who is preparing to welcome a new family member.”

Natasha nods. “You so are, Phil.” 

Phil thinks about it, then. So, maybe he’s a little worried. It’s not like he didn’t have reason to be! Steve had been over just the other day and had checked Clint, because he’d been too nervous to go to sleep. He’d said Clint was already three centimeters dilated. Of course, he’d been two a week before. But still!

“I’m not-” Just then, his phone started ringing and he grabbed it and answered it in half a heartbeat. “Clint?” he asked, and Natasha smirked.

“Hey, Phil. I think the baby is coming.” Clint sounds pretty calm, but Phil is suddenly panicking. 

He jumps to his feet and nearly falls over his chair, which tips down onto the ground. “ _What_?!” 

He can practically _hear_ Clint rolling his eyes, “Relax, Phil. I already called Steve and he said that as long as my water hasn’t broken, you have time to leave work and come pick me up. He’s gonna meet us at the hospital.” Phil can hear someone in the background, talking to Clint.

“Is someone with you?” 

“Bucky stopped by with lunch, since he’s started working half days now.”

“I’ll be home as soon as possible, Clint. Don’t hesitate to call e if something changes.” Phil is shoving paperwork into his bag with his laptop. He grabs his car keys, thankful that he’d decided  to drive to work. The hospital bags were already in the trunk, so all he would need to do is pick Clint up in front of the apartment building. “I’ll call you when I get there.” 

“Okay, Phil. I love you,” Clint says.

“Love you too, darlin’.” When Phil hangs up, he looks at the women in his office. 

They both wave him off. “Go, go!” Natasha says, all but pushing him out the office door. 

“I’ll tell Nick that you had to leave, and that you are ready to start your paternity leave.” Maria assures him when he is locking his door. 

“Thanks, guys! I’ll call you when we get to the hospital!” Then he’s rushing to the elevator. 

Tony is standing in it, going down too. He looks up from his phone when the door opens and Phil gets in. “Hey, Coulson. What’s the rush?” 

“Clint’s in labor.” 

Tony’s eyes widen and he smiles, patting Phil on the back. “Congrats, man. Hey, I’ll go pick up my mate, and we’ll swing by the hospital. You know, for moral support and all that.” 

“Well, it might be a while before anything happens.” Phil warns. 

“That’s alright. It’s my company, I can take as much time off as I want, and I can let our friends do the same.”

“We will call you all when we find out how long it will take. Bucky’s with Clint, and Steve is meeting us at the hospital.” 

“Why do they get to go?” Tony whines. 

“Because Bucky’s already out of work, and Steve’s _delivering the baby_.” 

“Oh, right. Good luck!” Tony calls when the doors open and Phil gets out of the elevator. 

When Phil gets there, he calls Clint. Bucky answers, saying, “We’ll be right down!” before hanging up on him. When he sees the door open and Clint waddles out, Phil gets out of the car and helps him into the back seat. Bucky walks around to sit next to him. 

“God, Phil, lets go.” Clint whines when Phil gets back into the car. Phil wastes no time, driving them off to the hospital.

_And at last I see the light. And it’s like the fog has lifted. And at last I see the light, and it’s like the sky is new. And it’s warm and real and bright, and the world has somehow shifted. All at once, everything is different. Now that I see you. Now that I see you._


	25. Little Wonders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully another chapter will be posted tomorrow. :)

Part Four

Chapter Twenty-Five: Little Wonders

_Our lives are made in these small hours, these little wonders, these twists and turns of fate. Time falls away, but these small hours, these small hours still remain._

“It’s only gonna be a little while, now.” Steve says, patting Clint’s knee. “Do you want me to call anyone for you guys?” 

Phil nods and Clint rise not to whimper as his next contraction comes, “If you could call Tony and let him know that he can bring everyone down now, that’d be awesome. I have a couple calls to make myself. Tony can call everyone separately if they aren’t at the tower. Could you have Bucky come sit with him while I do that?” Steve nods and leaves the room. 

Clint looks at him, “Can you call your parents and Janie? I promised Janie that we’d call her. And your dad told me he’d like to know too, when he called last week.” Phil nods. Bucky knocks on the doorframe and comes in, smiling at Phil. 

“I’ve got him, Phil. You can go call your family.” Phil nods and thanks him before leaving the room.

“Hey, tough guy. Stevie said you are gonna have a baby today, huh?” Bucky sits in the chair next to him and hugs him as close as he can. 

Clint nods, accepting his hug. Bucky had easily become his brotherly figure. Barney had never been a great brother, and he had always longed for a brother who cared for him the way Bucky now cared for him. “Looks like Steve was right. I’m gonna have her at thirty-five weeks.” 

“Yeah? I forgot that that was when he said you’d have her.” Bucky pauses, leaning back in the chair so Clint can lay normally in the bed. “Phil told me that you guys have been ready for this for ages, car packed and car seat buckled in place.” 

“Yeah….” Bucky looked at him sympathetically when Clint winced from the pain of his latest contraction. 

“Clint, don’t worry. You’ll be fine. You’re a fighter.” And Clint knows that he means something more than this contraction. He kinda can’t believe Steve told him, but it was probably best that he know. 

When Phil slips back into the room, Bucky starts to move to get up but Phil tells him to stay. “It’s okay. You’re probably doing a better job than I could ever do right now. And you’re pregnant, so you can sit.”

“I’ll leave when Steve says it’s just about go time. This is something that the two of you should be alone in. Well, and Steve and all the nurses and stuff.” Bucky crinkles his nose at the thought. “This whole birth thing used to be such a private affair. It used to just be the person having the baby, the doctor or midwife, and the baby nurse. Now it’s like a whole team of people. For two people. And one is so small that they are easier to hold than a sack of potatoes.” Clint laughs, and Phil joins in. 

They stay there, talking, until Steve comes back in. He raises an eyebrow at his mate, who is enthusiastically telling a story about a coworker who had had a baby with a huge head. “And he was so red and puffy that the older sister said that the baby looked like a tomato!” They laugh, and Steve rolls his eyes. 

“Well, everyone seems to be doing well in here.” He sits on his stool, moving closer to examine Clint, who simply widens his legs to give the doctor better access. “Well, Clint, it looks like it’s about go time-”

“Told you that’s his line,” Bucky boasted, standing up. “I’ll see you later. _Both_ of you.” Bucky said, eyeing Clint before leaning forward and hugging him, kissing his hair. “Good luck, love ya.” 

“Thanks, Buck.” Clint smiles softly as he watches his friend leave. Phil sits next to Clint, holding his hand and kissing his cheek.

Steve smiles. “Well then, lets have a baby, huh?” 

_These little wonders still remain._


	26. Finley's Lullaby

Chapter Twenty-Six: Finley’s Lullaby

_Oh these little hands, they don’t know what hurt is. And these little eyes, they see the world in different colors. And all I can think about is how I can’t live without you. Time is but a loop in this hospital room where I see you for the very first time. And if you ever see me go, I hope you’ll always know, you’re mine._

As soon as Steve gave the call, everything was set up for the birth. The team of people was there. He’d been given an IV in case there was a complication. So there was an anesthesiologist, Steve’s usual nurse, Steve, and a whole NICU team for the baby, since she would be premature. Their friends were waiting in the waiting room, and Clint was starting to bring his daughter into the world. With Phil by his side, Clint is starting to push. Steve keeps reassuring him that he’s doing good and that he can see her head crowning. There’s no backing down now.

“You’ve got it, honey! You can do this!” Phil coaches into Clint’s ear. Clint kinda wants to smack him, except his hand is clenched tightly in Phil’s.  

“Okay, Clint,” Steve says calmly. “We need a big, _big_ push now!” Clint clenches down and pushes as hard as he can. “Good job, Clint, her head is out. One more big push and her shoulders will be out. It’s easy after that one. Come on!” Clint pushes again and feels Phil’s lips on the side of his head. 

“Good job, Clint. Good job.” Phil kisses his cheek again. 

“Here she comes,” Steve says. “Ah, here we are.” Clint leans his head up to look as Steve swipes across the baby’s mouth with a little suction device. Then she starts crying, loud and long, and Clint laughs as tears spill down his cheeks. “She looks really good, Clint. You can hold her for a while before they have to take her down to the NICU, since she passed all her little post-birth tests.” Steve holds her up, placing her on Clint’s chest. “I’m gonna check you out, Clint, make sure everything is alright.” But Clint hardly hears him, staring at his daughter. 

Clint presses his lips to her head. She is beautiful. She is small, not more than five pounds, and her little hands are spread wide as she tries to just to her surroundings. She has her little eyes cracked open, and they were moving around as she tried to see what was around her. He smiles and he kisses her again. She has a little bit of light hair that Clint knows comes from him. “Hi, baby girl. I’m your daddy.” His vision became a little fuzzy, and he felt very light headed all of a sudden. “I love you _so_ much.” And then his world went black. 

_I hope you’ll always know you’re mine._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for anyone who now hates me a little. It'll get better.


	27. You Had Me From Hello

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to tell everyone who reads this that I truly appreciate your love for this story, it amazes me every time I receive a nice comment or some kudos!

Part Four

Chapter Twenty-Seven: You Had Me From Hello

_Your smile, just captured me. And you were in my future, far as I could see. And I don’t know how it happened, but it happened still. You ask me if I love you, if I always will._

“You’ve got it, honey! You can do this!” Phil coaches. Clint glares at him, squeezing Phil’s hand tightly. 

“Okay, Clint,” Steve says calmly, and Phil looks up at him. “We need a big, _big_ push now!” Clint squeezes Phil’s hand again, pushing. “Good job, Clint, her head is out. One more big push and her shoulders will be out. It’s easy after that one. Come on!” Phil presses his lips to the side of Clint’s head as he pushes again. 

“Good job, Clint. Good job.” Phil kisses Clint’s cheek again. 

“Here she comes,” Steve says. “Ah, here we are.” Phil leans around so he can take a look at the baby as Steve swipes across her mouth with a little suction device. Then she starts crying, loud and long, and Clint laughs as tears spill down his cheeks. Phil smiles, proud of his omega and glad that the baby was here, safe. “She looks really good, Clint. You can hold her for a while before they have to take her down to the NICU.” Steve holds her up, placing her on Clint’s chest. Phil is in total awe, staring down at the tiny body resting on top of Clint’s chest. “I’m gonna check you out, Clint, make sure everything is alright.” Phil is snapped out of it at those words, looking at Steve, concerned by the too-casual tone. Steve gives him a look that speaks volume, before going to work.

Clint kisses the baby’s head. She is _beautiful_. She looks so much like Clint, and Phil’s heart aches at the sight. Clint smiles and he kisses her again. “Hi, baby girl. I’m your daddy.” Clint blinks in a funny way, and Phil doesn't have time to say anything to him as Clint says, “I love you _so_ much,” to the baby. And then Clint’s eyes are rolling to the back of his head. 

“Steve!” Phil shouts as he quickly but gently lifts the baby off of Clint. 

“Move, Phil, go!” Steve says, and another doctor is rushing into the room. 

“No, what’s going on?! You have to tell me!” Phil cries. Someone tries to take the baby from him and she cries at their touch, so he moves away. When he realizes that it’s a NICU nurse, he hands the baby over. Another nurse whisks Phil out of the room. Phil stops, turning back as he stands in the doorway, “Steve!” 

Steve walks up after giving orders to the anesthesiologist. “Phil, I need you to go so we can take care of him. Go sit in the waiting room and someone will come get you when we figure out what’s going on.” 

Tony puts his hand on Phil’s shoulder when Phil is finished telling everyone about the birth and the baby and Clint. “It’s gonna be okay. Clint’s a tough dude, he’s gonna pull through.” 

Thor nods in agreement. “Friend Stark is correct, Son of Coul. Young Barton will be alright.” 

A nurse stands in the room. “Mr. Coulson? Would you like to come to the NICU to see your baby?”

“Oh, she’s not-” Tony starts to say, but both Natasha and Bruce smack his arms. “Abuse!” he screeches, flinching. Phil is already standing, walking up to the nurse.

“I’d love to see her.” Phil follows her. “Do you know anything about her father?”

“Yes, Doctor Rogers told me to tell you that they are in surgery, but that he should make it through it just fine. You’ll know when you can go to see him. They’ll come get you from the baby.” When they get him all ready to go into the NICU, she leads him to a semi-private room. Another family is in right side, and he smiles politely as he follows the nurse to the left side. The baby girl is sitting in an incubator, respiration cannula in her tiny nose. She has a heart monitor hooked up to her as well, and Phil watches as her little chest rises and falls quickly as she breathes. 

Phil puts his hand on the incubator. “Wow. She’s so small in there.”

“Here, you can touch her, let me show you.” She shows him how to get his hand in the incubator so he can touch the baby. She reacts to his touch immediately, pressing closer to him and her arms and legs are suddenly flying around in shock. Phil smiles brightly, stroking his hand over her cheek and feeling her warm, soft skin against his hand. “She’s four pounds eight ounces. Born on March twenty-third. Blonde hair, most likely blue eyes once they clear up.” She watches Phil touch his baby through the incubator. “Does she have a name?” the nurse asks with a soft smile.

“She does.” Phil says with a smile. He looks down at the baby’s face and wishes he could kiss her head. “It’s a secret though. It’s-”

_Well, you had me from hello. I felt love start to grow. The moment that I looked into your eyes, you owned me. You had me from the start. You completely stole my heart. And now you won’t let go. I never even had a chance, you know. You had me from hello._


	28. God Gave Me You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter of part four! Hopefully I remember to get a chapter posted Friday morning because otherwise it might not get done until Sunday evening, because I have a busy weekend.

Part Four

Chapter Twenty-Eight: God Gave Me You

_On my own I’m only half of what I could be. I can’t do without you. We are stitched together. And, what love has tethered, I pray we never undo._

Clint blinks at the bright lights when he wakes. He tries to remember where he is and why he’s there. _What happened?_ He turns his head to the side and sees Phil looking down at something in his arms. _What’s he holding? Oh, that’s my baby._ Phil looks up suddenly, and sees Clint. A huge smile graces his face and he presses the nurse’s button on the side of the bed before leaning close. “Hey, sleepy head. How are you feeling?”

“I’m alright. A little tired and hungry.” 

“I’ll bet. You’ve been out for three days.”

Clint’s eyes widen, “What?” 

A nurse comes in and checks him over, asking him questions and telling him she was glad he was awake. When she leaves, Phil turns back to him. “ _Three days_ , Clint.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’m just so thankful that you are alright and awake. They thought you would wake up over two days ago, now. They had me bring her in here to let her bond better and scent you.” 

“Can I hold her?” Clint asks, and Phil nods and hands her over. “God, she’s amazing.” 

“I know. She looks just like you and she’s so sweet. She’s been in an incubator since she was born, but she got rid of the cannula that was helping her breathe. And she has been passing all of her heart tests, so she’s only on a heart monitor for a couple hours every day. She still has to spend most of the time in the incubator, but I’ve been feeding her in here. She’s a little fighter, just like her daddy.” 

“Thank you for being such a good papa to her,” Clint says softly. 

“Clint… I’m not going anywhere As long as you will take me, I will stay. In fact, I had something to ask you.” Clint raises an eyebrow at the now anxious seeming alpha. “You’ve given me this _life_. It wasn’t the picture-perfect meeting, there was no sweep you off your feet moment. It’s been far from perfect, but nothing is ever perfect. But you’ve become my best friend, and my true love, and now you’ve had this _beautiful_ _baby_. And, yeah, she didn’t come from the best place, but she is the best thing I could have ever imagined coming from where she came. I love you, and I want to be with you forever. You had these dreams, and I want to make them as true as I possibly can. So, Clint, will you continue to dream with me? Will you become my mate and make the three of us a family?” Phil opened a tiny box, with a ring in it. There was a little blue gem on the side of the band, with two little diamonds on either side of it.

Clint looked up at Phil with watery eyes. “God, yes, Phil. There’s no one I want to be with more than you.” Phil smiles and leans down to press a kiss to Clint’s lips, minding the baby. He poured all his love and passion into the kiss, and the two were lost in their own little bubble.

Phil later tells him that his parents, Janie, and Abby were all staying at a hotel nearby to be here for them. He tells him that their friends had been taking turns dropping by to visit. “Janie is extremely pissed that I haven’t told anyone her name yet.” 

“You haven’t?” Clint asks, surprised. He’d assumed, when Phil told him that he’d been out for days, that Phil had told everyone the name without him. 

“No, I was going to wait for you. She’s your daughter, and you choose her name. You deserved to be able to tell everyone, or at least be there for it.” 

“You are the best, Phil. I can’t believe this is happening. If it wasn’t for you… the two of us would probably be dead.”

_God gave me you for the ups and downs. God gave me you for the days of doubt. For when I think I’ve lost my way, there are no words left to say. It’s true. God gave me you._


	29. Turning Page

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty big compared to all the rest. Also pretty eventful so enjoy!

Part Five

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Turning Page

_Then I would have known, what I was living for, all along. What I’ve been living for._

Janie rushed into the room at the NICU, walking right up to Clint and hugging him as tightly as she could without hurting him. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Then she is peering into the incubator. “Hey there, baby girl. Good to see you today! Maybe your parents will tell us what your name is today, huh?” 

“Maybe we will.” Clint grins. Phil’s parents come over and hug him gently. 

“I’d love to know the name of my newest grand baby,” Clark Coulson said.

“We understand why Phil didn’t tell us without you, but we’d love to know her name.” Charlotte said with a small smile, holding little Abby’s hand. Abby greets Clint happily.

“Well, I suppose we can tell you know.” Clint teased. “This little girl’s name is Kaylee Jane.” Janie’s eyes go wide and excited. Abby smiles, recognizing her mother’s name. Charlotte and Clark smiled and looked down at the baby. 

“That’s a great name for a beautiful little girl,” Clark tells them, and Phil stands taller. Clint smiles. 

“Thanks guys. A big strong name for a big strong Coulson,” Clint tells them. Everyone turns to look at them. 

“She’s gonna be a Coulson? Not a Barton?” Janie asks carefully. 

“Well, we figured that if I’m gonna be a Coulson, she should be one too.” Phil smiles and takes his hand, the one holding the engagement ring. 

Janie squeals and grabs Clint’s hand from Phil, holding it close so she can see his ring. “Oh God, it’s beautiful. I’m so happy for you guys!” She hugs Clint again and then hugs Phil too. “When’s the wedding?” Janie asks with a grin.

Phil and Clint exchange a look. 

Clint is released from the hospital that afternoon. Phil brings him back to the apartment and lets him go to bed right away. The drugs have him tired enough to sleep the day away. Phil brings him dinner in bed, and Clint falls back asleep soon after. 

They learn that Kaylee will be released two days after Clint, and Clint spends the majority of his time after that first day in the hospital with her. Bucky makes Phil go back to work until the baby is released. Phil is a little reluctant to leave Clint, but he agrees when Bucky and Tony promise to take turns being with Clint. Tony picks Clint up to go to the hospital when Phil is leaving for the morning. Then, after lunch, Bucky will take a cab to the hospital to spend time with Clint. Tony is excited to get to see Kaylee, now that he knows her name. He shows up to get Clint, ushers him into the slick red sports car. When they speed away, Phil watches with wide eyes. Clint waves and laughs when Phil is out of sight. When they arrive at the hospital, Tony gets out and grabs a small pink blanket from the trunk and a big pink stuffed dog. “What’s all this, Tony? You’ve already given us so much….”

“Oh, come on, the kid’s gotta have a blanket with her name on it! And the dog is a guilty pleasure. It’s something I’d wanna buy my own kids.” Tony walks towards the doors with Clint, who pauses. 

“You want kids?” 

“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it lately. Bruce has always wanted kids, but he worried that he couldn’t have them, when he was with his ex. They weren’t mated, but they were trying to make a family. She broke things off because she wasn’t getting pregnant, and later told him that she was the problem, not him. Then we started going out, and he told me that hunted kids.” Tony shrugs. “I want kids, always kinda wanted them. But I never thought I’d be with someone who I’d want to start a family with. When we got mated last year, we discussed kids. I wanted to wait. Now, I don’t know if it’s because of Kaylee or Bucky and Steve’s twins, but I think I’m gonna tell Bruce that we should start trying.” 

“Congrats, man.” Clint says, clapping his shoulder. Tony gives him a nervous smile. Clint’s never seen him nervous or timid at all. “You guys will have cute kids together.” 

“Thanks, Clint.” 

Bucky comes later, and Tony looks hesitant to leave, holding Kaylee close in his arms. He frowns and hands her to Clint. Clint smiles at him and says he’ll see him the next day. Tony nods and leaves. Bucky hold his arms out for Kaylee, and Clint hands him over. “Hey baby girl, are you and your daddy doing good today? Huh? I heard your daddy has a new ring that means you are gonna become your papa’s daughter very soon.” Kaylee’s little lips twitch into a smiles, and Bucky laughs and kisses her head. “Daddy? Wanna tell me about it?” Bucky asks, turning to look at Clint. The two discuss the wedding and the bonding. Bucky answers a bunch of questions that Clint has about it all. And Clint discusses details of it with Bucky.

When Kaylee is released from the hospital, it’s a big deal for their entire friend group. Everyone comes by that morning to visit and congratulate them. Maria, Phil’s friend from work, sticks around for a while, handing something to Phil and whispering something to him. When she leaves, Phil comes up to Clint with the car seat. “Ready to bring our daughter home?” Clint smiles and nods. 

They buckle Kaylee into her seat, and the NICU nurses say goodbye, happy to see her “graduating” from the NICU. Phil puts Kaylee’s carseat in it’s base and makes sure it’s secure before they both get into the car to leave. Phil is acting strangely, and Clint picks up on it. But things seem to be going normally. Then Phil misses a turn. “Uh, babe? You missed the turn.” Phil looks like he’s fighting a smile. “Where are we going?” Clint asks, suspiciously. 

“You’ll see.” Phil assures him. 

They drive for about half an hour before they get out of the city. “Come on, Phil, where are we going?” He pauses before joking, “Oh God, are you bringing me to the woods to kill me? _No_!” He dramatically places his hand over his heart. 

Phil rolls his eyes. “No, I’m not gonna kill you. We should be there soon.” 

A few more minutes pass before they turn down a dirt road. A while down the road, there is a clearing. And there, in the middle of the clearing is a farmhouse. Clint’s eyes widen and he gasps. Phil is smiling, looking at him as he pulls up into the little dirt driveway. There’s a big red barn in the back, behind the house, and the farmhouse itself is _beautiful_. It’s a big white house, with dark blue shutters. It stood two stories high, and had a beautiful white porch that went over the whole front entrance to the house. There was a large shed to the side of the house, and a huge yard that had a swing set in the front. It was _Clint’s dream_. Phil pulled the car near the shed and parked. He got out, leaving Clint sitting in the car, still staring out the windows in awe. Clint didn’t notice Phil pull the baby’s seat out of the back, or her bag out from the floor in front of her. He did, however, notice when Phil opened his door and grabbed his hand. Clint scrambles to unbuckle his seatbelt and lets Phil pull him out of the car. He stands there, staring at the house and the property. 

When he finally turns to look at Phil, he finds that the man is watching him look around. “Do you like it?” He asks nervously, settling the diaper bag on his shoulder. Clint surges forward and press his lips tightly to Phil’s. When he finally pulls back for air, Phil chuckles. “I guess that’s a yes.” 

Clint wraps his arms around Phil’s neck, “You are amazing.” 

Four weeks after giving birth to Kaylee, on April 23rd, Clint finds himself standing at the alter. The couple are in matching tuxedos, Clint with a purple bowtie and Phil with a blue and black striped necktie. They are staring into each others eyes, getting ready to recite their vows. “The couple has chosen to write their own vows to each other, which they will now profess,” the priest announces. 

Clint goes first. “When you found me, alone and scared, I didn’t know what to think of you. No one had been so kind, so caring, and so trusting toward me in a very long time. I’d forgotten how it felt to be cared for, how it felt to be loved. So I didn’t know what was happening, what I was feeling. If I had only felt the warmth within your touch. If I had only seen how you smile when you blush. Or how you curl your lip when you concentrate enough. I would have known, all along. You’ve given me more than I could have ever wanted. You’ve saved me, Phil Coulson, and you’ve saved the daughter who has already become yours. I promise to care for you, cherish you and love you, until the day we die.”

Phil smiles and starts his own vows. “Clint, when I first found you, I knew that there was more to you than what was plainly seen. I invited you into my home, and into my heart. You’ve changed me. You’ve changed my entire life, for the better. I surrender who I’ve been, for who you are. Nothing makes me stronger than your fragile heart. If I had only felt how it feels to be yours, then I would have know what I’ve been living for all along. You’re what I’ve been living for. I promise to hold you. I promise to care for you, our beautiful daughter, and any other children who come into our family. And I promise to love you for ever and ever.” 

“Phil, do you take Clint to be your mate? To love and to hold, until death do you part?” the priest asked.

“I do.”

“Clint, do you take Phil to be your mate? To love and to hold, until death do you part?” 

“I do.” 

“Then, by the power vested in me, I pronounce you mates for life. You may now share a kiss.” 

Phil kisses Clint warmly, holding both sides of his face gently between his hands as their lips move together in perfect unison. Everyone is clapping around them, but they are lost in their own world. 

_Your love is my turning page, where only the sweetest words remain. Every kiss is a cursive line. Every touch is a redefining fraise._


	30. Kiss Me Slowly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Sex. Also, probably badly written sex because it's the first time I've ever finished a story with sex in it. So, yeah, you've been warned.

Chapter Thirty: Kiss Me Slowly

_I can see you there with the city lights. Fourteen floors, pale blue eyes. I can breathe you in. Two shadows standing by the bedroom door. No, I could not want you more then I did right then. As our heads leaned in…._

When Phil and Clint got to the hotel to spend their first night as a married couple alone, Phil practically threw Clint onto the bed. The omega grinned at his enthusiasm. Phil just could not wait any longer to get him on the large bed. Clint squirmed around while Phil took off his tie and threw it on the floor. He took off his shoes and socks, and then his belt. Clint whined then, and Phil kneeled on the bed, pressing close to him to kiss him within an inch of his life. Clint’s hands found their way into Phil’s hair, and he groaned at the feeling. When they ran out of breathe, Phil pulled back and looked down at Clint. He was a panting mess beneath him, lips red and swollen from the kissing. 

He took Clint’s tie off, and his shoes and socks, letting them join his own. “Remember, you can always back down, Clint. We won’t do anything you aren’t comfortable with. Just tell me to stop at any time and I will.” Clint rolls his eyes but nods, urging Phil to kiss him again with a hand pushing at the back of his head. Phil chuckles at the gesture, but presses his lips to Clint’s obediently. He takes off Clint’s belt while he kisses him. Then he’s running his hands over the jacket of Clint’s tux, feeling for the buttons. He undoes them with a grace he didn’t know he possessed. Then he’s moving to take the jacket off, and Clint helps, shaking his arms out of the sleeves. Phil lets that go sliding off the bed. Then Phil is untucking the white button up shirt from Clint’s pants, and he lets his hands sneak under the shirt. 

His fingers brush against the soft skin of Clint’s belly. He moves them higher, to his chest, and rubs them over his chest. When Clint lets out a frustrated noise, Phil slips his hands back out and quickly undoes the buttons. Clint once again helps Phil slip his arms out of the shirt and Phil throws it behind him. Clint shivers at the cold feeling on his bare upper body, and Phil starts kissing his exposed body. He kisses his way up his stomach and over his ribs. When he makes his way to his nipples, Clint whines. Phil grins, looking at the sensitive skin of his nipples. He licks over them, and Clint moans. Although male omegas do not produce milk for their babies, their nipples tend to be sensitive both in pregnancy and for a short time after. Phil had thought that time had come and passed, but apparently it had not. 

So, when Phil sucks one perky nipple into his mouth, Clint moans loudly. Phil sucks on the nipple, and then bites down on it gently, cause Clint to gasp and groan. His hips rise, trying to make some friction on that end of things, and Phil gently pushes them back down on the bed. When he is satisfied with his work on that nipple, he repeats the actions on the other. Clint is whining and shaking with pleasure as Phil finally unzips his pants. “Oh thank _fuck_!” Clint shouts, and Phil laughs, easing Clint’s pants and boxers down his hips at the same time. Suddenly, Clint is feeling a little self-conscious. “You are wearing _way_ too many clothes.” Clint’s hands reach up and undo the buttons on his jacket, slowly. Phil wonders why until he looks down at Clint’s hands. They are shaking too harshly to do much good with the buttons. 

Phil gently takes Clint’s hands into his own. Clint looks up into his eyes. “I’ve got it, darling.” Phil says softly, and Clint nods. Phil quickly rids himself of his jacket and his shirt. 

“Damn!” Clint says, looking at Phil’s chest. Phil looks down at it himself. He’s got pretty impressive abs, he knows, but nothing to really find as attractive as Clint seems to find it. Phil kisses Clint again as his hand goes to his zipper. Clint flinches a little at the sound, not expecting it. Phil freezes immediately. “No! Don’t stop, keep going! I’m fine.” So Phil continues getting both his pants and boxers off. And, again, Clint is staring. Phil’s cock twitches in interest. “ _Fuck,”_ Clint breathes.

Phil laughs and raises an eyebrow. “I think that’s the idea here, Clint.” 

“Will I be able to take that?” Clint asks, swallowing hard. “I mean, you’re _huge_ , Phil.” 

Phil kisses the worry away. “You’ll be fine.”

Phil gently pushes Clint’s legs apart, grabbing the lube off the side table. He gets a generous amount onto his fingers before gently starting to slide a finger into Clint. His breath hitches, and Phil passes until Clint nods. He slides his first finger in all the way and pauses again so Clint can get used to it. Clint is pretty wet already, but the lube would be the most comfortable way to go. Phil starts to slowly move his finger inside Clint, twisting and turning it around. Clint looks a little uncomfortable, but he is getting wetter by the second, so Phil adds another finger. Almost immediately, Clint whines, “More.” So Phil listens, slowly adding a third finger. After a while of pumping his fingers in and out of Clint’s body, brushing his fingers against Clint’s prostate and making him start to moan, groan, and scream in pleasure, Clint cries out, “I need you. I need your cock! I need it in me now!” 

Phil listens, removing his fingers and causing Clint to whine. He then slathers some lube onto his cock before lining himself up against Clint’s entrance. He pushes in slowly, allowing Clint to get used to it little by little. When he’s finally all the way in, he starts moving slowly. He’s extremely hard, excited that this is all finally happening. “Faster, Phil, faster!” Phil obeys the gasped out command, picking up his speed. “Oh, God, Phil!” 

“I love you… so much.” Phil said through his heavy breathing. 

“I love you too!” Clint gasped, tossing his head back and exposing his neck. Phil leans forward, still quickly rocking into Clint, pressing his lips to Clint’s neck and his scent glands. That’s where he’d be biting him. That’s where he’d be marking him to show the world that Clint belonged to him, and he belonged to Clint. Suddenly, Clint’s hands scramble to find purchase on Phil’s back, nails digging in as he comes, untouched. Phil comes not far behind, feeling his knot tighten and tie them together. “Do it now, Phil. Make me _yours_ , _forever_.” And Phil bites down on Clint’s neck.

_When the time comes, baby don’t run. Just kiss me slowly._


	31. My Little Girl

Chapter Thirty-One: My Little Girl

_I remember how I thought you looked like an angel, wrapped in pink so soft and warm. You’ve had me wrapped around your finger since the day you were born._

When they pack up to go home the next morning, Clint pauses to stare at himself in the bathroom mirror. He looks good. Gone are the marks of abuse, the tight skin from homelessness, the long hair that had been forced upon him for years. In their places are a mating mark from the love of his life, healthy skin from access to plenty of food and doctors, and short hair from regular haircuts from a good friend. Phil comes in to find him there, and wraps his arms around his waist, pulling him close. “Beautiful.” Clint sets a hand on Phil’s arms and turns his head to kiss him. “I love you, Clint. You don’t have to look in the mirror to see how you look anymore. You will be healthy and beautiful forever now. I’ll make sure you never hate what you see again.” 

“What did I ever do to deserve you, Phil?” Clint asked softly, kissing him again. 

“More like what did I do to deserve you?” Phil replied. “Let’s go home, huh?” 

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I miss my little girl.” 

When they get home, Bucky is waiting at the door with Kaylee, handing her to Clint with a smile. “How did she do for you guys?” Clint asked, looking at his little girl. She was already wrapped around everyone’s fingers at only a month old. 

“She did fine. Slept as good as you can expect a newborn to sleep, ate as much as a premie is expected to eat at a month old. Pooped more than expected though, Stevie was a little lost. It was great. Thanks for letting us watch her.” Bucky is smirking as he tells them a story about a particularly bad diaper change that Steve had to deal with. Steve comes around the corner towards the end of the story and frowns. 

“Buck, don’t waste their time telling them stories like that. They probably wanna get back to their lives with their daughter. And each other. Congratulations on the mating, guys.” Steve says, running a hand through his hair. “We’ll see them all soon enough, don’t worry.” Bucky is all but dragged out of the house when he mentions pictures. Steve grumbles as he gets into their car, and Bucky grins triumphantly. 

When they are gone, Clint brings Kaylee to the living room couch and starts to talk to her. “So, now that Daddy and Papa are mated, you’re gonna have to learn a few rules. A sock on the door means do not come in. We don’t wanna scar you for life so early in the ball game.” Phil shakes his head and chuckles, sitting next to Clint. “And when Daddy gives Papa bedroom eyes, it’s best you leave the immediate area _ASAP_ , that means as soon as possible. You don’t wanna see what happens next.” 

Phil continues, “And when Papa gives Daddy the _look_ , feel free to laugh at his expense. Because he’s about to be scolded for bad behavior.” Now it’s Clint’s turn to laugh. Kaylee blinks up at them silently. They both laugh at the expression on her face that just _screams_ , _“What in the world are they talking about?”_  

_You beautiful baby from the outside in. Chase your dreams, but always know the road that will lead you home again. Go on, take on this whole world, but to me you know you’ll always be my little girl._


	32. Oliver's Lullaby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kinda a boring chapter but I enjoyed writing it, so I hope you guys think it's cute!

Part Five

Chapter Thirty Two: Oliver’s Lullaby

_Rocking back and forth, in the rocking chair. So you can relax, so you can take a nap; so you can get the rest you need to go about the day. Oh, little one, you just need to behave._

Clint enters the nursery and turns on the light. Kaylee is laying in her crib, crying loudly. “Oh, baby girl. It’s okay. Daddy’s here.” He lifts her up and rocks her slowly in his arms. “You hungry? Hmm? Let’s go get a bottle, okay?” He brings her into the kitchen and prepares a bottle of formula. When it’s ready, he tests it on his arm and then pops the nipple into the baby’s mouth. 

“That’s a girl,” Clint says when she starts sucking greedily at the bottle. “You know, today is Daddy’s birthday. I’m turning eighteen.” She blinks up at him as she continues to drink the bottle. “Papa left for work before I woke up. Left a note saying happy birthday and that he’d be back a little early.” 

Clint thinks about their new bond. Phil is amazing with him and with Kaylee. He was one of the best mates that anyone could ever ask for. He understood what things Clint liked and did not like, and he respected both. In return, Clint learned what Phil did and did not like and respected those as well. Phil and Clint were getting used to being together in _every_ way. Phil would take things as slow as Clint needed, would ask him if changing things was okay. They were closer than ever and their bond was growing strong and steady. 

Kaylee was doing better than ever, and was on track with most babies her age now, despite being born five weeks early. At three months old, they had a little schedule down. Phil would wake up in the middle of the night and feed and change her. Clint would wake up early in the morning, when Phil was still asleep, Clint would do the same. Phil would check on her before he left for work, and Clint would wake up to start his day soon after that and would feed and change Kaylee again before they had some floor time. Kaylee laid on her back on her play mat and played with the toys. Clint would grab a bowl of cereal to eat while she played, and would join her while he ate. A while later, she’d have tummy time and Clint would turn on cartoons about colors and numbers and letters. 

Clint would put her to bed after about an hour of play time. She napped in her little swing and Clint got showered and dressed. When she woke up, after usually an hour, Clint would change her diaper and feed her again. They’d go for a morning walk after that two or three days out of the week, since June was now in full swing. She’d lay in her car seat that was attached to the stroller and they’d walk down the dirt road, since nobody was ever driving down it at this time of day. They couldn’t see any neighbors from their house, but Clint knew that they were close by. They’d walk all the way to the nearest house, where Clint had met a lovely couple who had twins around Kaylee’s age. The mother, a beta, would be there, waiting for them, and would accept them into her house. Kaylee would be put down on a big blanket in the living room and would get to play with a bunch of toys and would interact with the twins. After a while, she’d get her diaper changed and would fall asleep in the same crib as the baby girl. The three would take a nap and Clint would eat lunch with their mother. The same thing would happen in reverse the other two or three days of the week; they’d welcome the twins and their mother into their home. 

Usually after that the three would wake and would be fed and changed and Clint would go home with Kaylee, or the twins and their mother would leave their home. “Well, baby girl, now we get to go home and read.” They’d go and sit on the couch and read books, and sing songs. She’d take her last nap a little before Phil would get home. 

That’s what was going on when Clint heard Phil’s car pull up by the house the evening of Clint’s birthday. Kaylee was asleep in her crib, and Clint was reading to himself. He closed the book and went to go see his mate.

_Oh, dreaming is calling you. And birds will blue in the bluest of blues and destiny, it longs for you. With wings that fly, with a brown butter sky, but first we’re going to be…. Rocking back and forth in the rocking chair. So you can relax, so you can take a nap; so you can get the rest you need to go about the day._


	33. Never Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter and a little epilogue. I'd love to hear whether you think I should write a sequel or not. I have a story planned out for one but don't know if I should write it or not. Let me know what you think!

Part Five

Chapter Thirty-Three: Never Alone

_May your tears come from laughing, you find friends worth having. With every year passing, they mean more than gold. May you win but stay humble, smile more than grumble, and know when you stumble, you’re never alone._

Phil woke up for work and got showered and dressed quietly. He grabbed a bagel out of the fridge and spread some cream cheese on it before starting his morning coffee. He ate the bagel and filled his travel mug with the coffee before going to check on Kaylee on his way out. She was asleep in her crib, pink pacifier between her little lips. Phil would never get over her beauty. He leaned down to whisper, “Hey, sweetie. Papa is going to work now, and he’s got a surprise for Daddy for his birthday. I’ll see you later. Love you.” Her lips twitch into a smile in her sleep, and he kisses her head before leaving the nursery. 

He leaves a note by Clint’s side of the bed and walks out of the house, briefcase and coffee in hand. 

He arrives at the tower a little earlier than usual. His boss, Nick, is stepping out of his office when Phil is coming to his own. Nick raises an eyebrow and looks down at his watch. “You’re here early, Coulson.” 

“Yeah, it’s my mate’s birthday and I’m leaving early to go pick up his surprises,” Phil explains. “I already confirmed it with Tony and you-”

“I know. I just assumed you would come at your normal time and leave early. God knows that’s what all the rest of these fools we work with would do.” 

Phil chuckles. “Wanna meet for lunch?” he asks, because it’s been a long time since the two had eaten together. Nick nods. “See you down at the cafe at one?” 

“Sure, Phil. Now get to work.” With that, Nick turns and leaves. 

Phil works diligently until one, and joins Nick for lunch, telling him what he has planned for Clint. He asks about Nick’s life, and Phil shows him pictures of Kaylee. “She sure is getting big. You’re doing good with them.” 

When lunch is over, they return to their work. Phil leaves at two-thirty and goes to collect Clint’s presents. He gets home around four, which is about an hour earlier than normal. He knows that Kaylee is barely down for her nap, so he comes into the house quietly. He’s holding a bag of groceries and a cake when he’s greeted by Clint. “You got cake?” Clint asks, face lighting up. 

“Yep. And I’m making chicken bacon Alfredo for dinner.” 

Clint grins, “You’re just the best, Phil.” He leans forward to peck Phil’s lips. Phil smiles. 

“Only the best for my beautiful omega on his eighteenth birthday.” 

Clint rolls his eyes but maintains his smile. “I’ll help you put the food away.” 

“How about you do that while I go get your presents? Hmm?” Phil asks as he sets the bag down on the counter. Clint turns to look at him.

“You got presents for me?” he asks with teary eyes. Phil smiles and kisses him.

“Of course I did, darling. I’ll be right back.” 

When he comes back in, he uses the door leading in from the kitchen. Clint turns when he hears his present, and his eyes go wide and excited. He drops to his knees as Phil lets go of the dog’s leash. “Oh my God, oh my God. You got me a dog?!” Clint asks, but he’s already aware of the answer as the dog is clearly licking his face. “Hey, buddy. Hi. What’s his name?” Clint asks, staring up at Phil. “Are those chicks?” Phil nods. 

“His name is Lucky. He got into an accident when he was a puppy and lost his left eye. Hence the name, Lucky.” He puts the cage of chicks on the counter. “We have ten chicks here, I didn’t bother to have them sexed because I knew you wanted to raise chickens. So I figured we could handle boys and girls. We’re also getting two horses that we get to go pick out after dinner.”

Clint stares at him, “You’ve made all of my dreams come true, Phil Coulson. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“You’ll never be alone again, Clint. I swear it.”

_Never alone, never alone. I’ll be in every beat of your heart when you face the unknown. Wherever you fly, this isn’t goodbye. My love will follow you, stay with you. Baby, you’re never alone._


	34. It Felt Good On My Lips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter! Only a short epilogue left! 
> 
> Please let me know if you guys want a sequel. Christmas break starts on the 13th and then I can write the sequel for a month if people want it. I have a pretty good idea for it but don't wanna post it if no one wants it, so let me know either way!

Part Five

Chapter Thirty Four: Felt Good On My Lips

_Oh, oh, oh, I wanna go crazy. You can go crazy too. Oh, oh, oh, I wanna go crazy. I wanna go crazy with you._

Clint watched as Lucky ran around the yard, chasing after a ball Clint threw for him. Kaylee sat next to Clint in her bouncer. Every time that Lucky ran back to give Clint the ball, she would clap her hands together and squeal happily when Lucky licked her bare feet. At eight months, Kaylee was a spirited little girl. She crawled around the house and the yard, she laughed, she clapped in response to things that made her happy. Lucky was number one at making her clap. She clapped when he did anything; when he ate his dinner, when he ran into a wall because he was excited and it was to his left, when he first broke through the screen door in the kitchen. Phil and Clint had been feeding her, and Lucky wanted to go out; but the two had been too invested in trying to make Kaylee eat her peas. Finally, Lucky had backed up and ran at the screen door, as they were letting the fall breeze sweep into the house, and had broken it. He ran outside, and Kaylee, who’d been watching him instead of eating, had clapped for the first time ever. She had giggled and patted her hands together. Phil and Clint had exchanged a look before looking back at Kaylee. Clint had run after Lucky and Phil had sat with Kaylee. 

Lucky’s favorite thing was to hear Kaylee laugh, so he did anything and everything he could to make her laugh. Licking her was the easiest way for him to make her laugh, and Clint didn’t mind as long as he stayed out of her face. Phil would panic every time he saw the dog lick her, thinking that he’d make her sick or something. Clint just rolled his eyes and told him that she had a much higher chance of getting sick every time they brought her to the park or to visit the twins next door or Bucky’s twins who were born nearly three months ago. Clint remembers the twins’s birth like it was yesterday.

Bucky had called him panicking when he was forty-one weeks pregnant. His water had broken, and he was alone in their house. He lived closer to Clint than he lived to anyone else, so he’d called Clint. Steve was at work, delivering a baby. Steve had told Bucky that he’d ask another doctor to cover for him, since he’d been taking some time off to stay with his overdue mate. But Bucky had insisted that he’d be fine on his own, even though someone had been with him always for the past week and a half. Phil was home, luckily, and had helped Clint get Kaylee ready to go to the hospital. Phil drove to Bucky’s house and Clint helped get Bucky into the back seat. Clint sat in the passenger seat and turned around to hold onto Bucky’s hand. Kaylee was crying, scared because Bucky was giving off pheromones that just screamed _fear_ and _pain_. “It’s okay, Bucky, we called Steve and he’s gonna be there with your doctor, waiting for you. They have a room ready, all we have to do is get there.”

They get there as fast as they can and Bucky is already ten centimeters by the time he gets into the room. Less than an hour later, everyone is gathered in the hospital and Clint and Phil are called back first by Steve, who is smiling a wide, bright smile. Tony watches Kaylee for them, and Clint smiles at him before going with Phil and Steve. Bucky is laying in the bed with the babies. One pink and one blue bundle rest against Bucky, who smiles a tired smile at the two of them. His dark hair is wet from sweat, and it clings tightly to his head. Clint walks to his side and Bucky lifts the boy towards him, and Clint accepts him with a smile, “Hey, big guy. I’m your Uncle Clint.” Phil takes the girl from Bucky when she’s offered to him, and he smiles down at her. The boy looks more like Steve, while the girl looks more like Bucky. 

“Wanna know their names?” Bucky asks, and Clint nods, tearing his eyes away from the baby to look at his friend. “Our little boy is Grant Phillip, and our little girl is Jamie Francis. We figured it would be hard to give our girl the middle name Clinton, so we settled for Francis instead.” Clint’s eyes fill with tears and he leans down to give Bucky a hug. 

“Thank you,” Clint whispers. “They are beautiful, guys.” 

“They’ll be running around with Kaylee before you know it,” Phil said. Clint smiles at his mate. 

Clint is brought back to the present by Lucky, who is now barking and running up to the car pulling onto their property. Clint stands up and lifts Kaylee up with him, calling Lucky. The dog listens to his owner and comes running over, still barking at the car. Tony is smiling when he’s getting out of the driver’s seat. Bruce gets out of the passenger seat and waves at Clint and Kaylee. Kaylee grins and waves back. “Hey, Hawkass. Hey, munchkin. Hey, pirate dog,” Tony greets them, and Clint rolls his eyes. 

“Hey, Tony. You here to lose in target practice?” Clint asks, because he genuinely doesn’t know why he’s here so early. They are all celebrating Thanksgiving tonight, on the day that Clint moved in with Phil the year before. Phil and Clint were gonna go up to see Phil’s family for Thanksgiving itself, and Thor and Loki were going to visit their parents over the weekend, so there was no other time to do it before Thanksgiving. They all found it appropriate to do it on the day that Clint had joined their group of friends. Clint knew they were more like a family, and it made him happy to know that he had fit into their family. 

“Actually, I don’t think I’m gonna be doing any target practice for a while now.” Clint smiles, eyes wide in understanding. “Guess the cat’s out of the bag, huh?” Tony asks, shifting from foot to foot. Lucky walks up to him and licks his hand to try to make the worry Tony is releasing stop. Tony laughs down at him and smiles. Bruce walks up to Tony and puts his hand on his shoulder with a smile. 

“Congratulations, guys.”

“We wanted to tell you first, to see if it’s okay that we tell everyone at dinner,” Bruce explained. 

Clint frowned, confused. “Why wouldn’t it be okay?”

“Well, it’s just that we know this is kinda a big day for you and Phil and we didn’t really wanna steal your thunder.” Tony said with a shrug. 

“Trust me, this is not that big of a deal, or else we wouldn’t have done this today.” 

They help him with his chores that he needed to get done before dinner. Bruce watches the turkey and cleans the kitchen and dining room. Tony feeds the chicks and waters the indoor garden that they keep behind the barn. Clint feeds and grooms the horses with Kaylee on his hip. Lucky follows Tony around, much to his annoyance. “Dumb dog,” Tony had muttered when he had followed him to the chicken coop. 

Soon enough, his chores were done and he was laying Kaylee down for an afternoon nap. Natasha showed up a little bit after that. “Hey, boys. I thought _I_ was early.” 

“Well, that’s such a shame that you weren’t the first one to show up this time,” Tony sassed. Natasha shook her head and went to put her food in the oven. 

Phil came home shorty after her. “Natasha, is that your new bike?” he asked and she nodded. “It’s pretty sleek looking.” He walked up to Clint and kissed him. “Hey, you.” 

“Hey. Did you have a good day at work?” 

“Yeah. Did you have a good day with Kaylee?” Phil asked. 

“Yes, she loved playing with Lucky and me and-”

“Oh my God, the two of you are so domestic that it hurts!” Tony cried. Clint raised an eyebrow at him and Phil just stared at him in confusion. “Sorry. But it’s true. If Bruce and I could be that way, I would probably cry.” 

Clint rolls his eyes, “You two can be that way too. Just work on it, you’ll get there.” 

Soon enough, everyone was there and they were sitting down to dinner. The twins were resting in their playpen in the living room and Kaylee was in her high chair. They were all eating now, Kaylee had some apple juice in a bottle and some turkey and potatoes and green beans. She loved it, smashing the potatoes in her little fists and shoving those fists in her mouth. And, occasionally, in her blonde hair. She giggled every time she did that and Clint reached over to wipe the food out of her hair. “Bruce and I have an announcement to make.” Clint smiled. “We are gonna have a baby.” 

There is a chorus of congratulations and everyone is happy and smiling. Then Loki and Thor share a look. “I am going to have one as well.” Loki admits when Tony asks what the look is for. Kaylee squeals and Phil leans over and kisses Clint, and Clint smiles through the kiss.

There is a lot that they are thankful for this Thanksgiving. 

Friends and family, children and pets, love and laughter. Clint hopes this will never end. 

_Yeah, it felt good on my lips!_


	35. My Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the end of this part of the story! I had a great time writing this and am so happy that it seemed to be good in the minds of others. I do have a sequel planned and I will try writing it over my semester break. Let me know what you thought of the story, and tell me anything you might like to see in the sequel. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!

Epilogue: My Girl

_I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day. When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May. I guess you’d say: what can make me feel this way?_

Clint rushes around the house, finishing up last minute things before people start to arrive for the party. Kaylee was turning one and they were having her very first birthday party. She had a Minnie Mouse themed birthday party, with flowers and polka dots to fill the house with decorations besides the mouse. Kaylee was running around the house, excited and ready to play with friends. She was already in her dress, and she was following Lucky, her very best friend, around the house. “Come here, Kaylee, let’s put your shoes and socks on so we can go outside and help Papa.” She stops following the dog and sits down so he can put her socks and shoes on. 

“Out, Daddy?” she asks, and Clint nods and takes her hand. When she sees Papa, she runs up to him and hugs him. He is helping the caterers bring the food to the barn, which had been cleaned up. Phil picks Kaylee up and settles her on his hip so they can hug while he still talks to the workers. The horses were staying outside for the party, and the barn was filled with tables and chairs for lunch. They would eat dessert in the house, and that’s where they’d be opening presents, but lunch was a much more laid back and easy going part of the party. So they’d decided to serve lunch outside. People would come and they’d get to eat lunch at their own pace. 

There was a little bouncy house in the front yard, and they had a part of the yard dedicated to parking. There was a Minnie and Mickey Mouse coming to take pictures with all of the little ones. Phil’s whole family was coming, something they said that they always tried to do for the little ones’s first birthdays. Janie was on her way, she’d just gotten off the phone with Clint before he’d come outside. Abby was excited to see her cousin and was rambling in the backseat of Janie’s car the whole time they’d been on the phone. Sherry and Mike were coming with their kids, and Jameson and Tina were coming too. Charlotte and Clark were staying with Tony and Bruce in the tower, so they were already in New York. 

Kaylee was adorable in her little pink birthday dress. It had a big pink tutu for a bottom, and a white shirt-looking thing for the top and puffy pink sleeves. The shirt had a pink and blue cupcake on it and a candle that was the number one on it. Her blonde hair was in little pigtails and she had a headband that had Minnie Mouse ears on it. Her shoes and socks matched the dress, and she had the biggest smile on her face. Her blue eyes showed wisdom beyond her one year as she listened to Phil talk about where the people would be putting the food. He carried her after them, to make sure they understood. Clint smiled, loving the way the two of them looked together. 

Janie arrives first, and Abby runs out of the car to hug Clint, the first person she sees that she knows. “Hey, Abby!” Clint bends down to hug her better. “I missed you. Uncle Phil is in the barn with Kaylee. Wanna go see them?” She nods and lets go of him, running off towards the barn. 

“Hey, Clint. How’s the birthday girl?” Janie asks as she hugs Clint.

“She’s great. She’s excited for her party, and she’s been excited to see everyone at it.” 

“And how are you doing?” 

“I’m doing great. Couldn’t be any better.” Clint smiles. 

The neighbors get there next, and Jacob and Samantha, their twins, run off to play with Kaylee. Tony and Bruce arrive next, and Tony is finally looking pregnant. He’s now almost seven months pregnant, since he’d been about two and a half months along when he’d told everyone that he was pregnant. “Need help there, Tony?” Clint asked. 

He waves a hand at Clint. “Shove off, Clint.” Clint threw his head back and laughed.

“Whatever, man. Just trying to help.” 

When Steve and Bucky arrive with their twins, Clint goes to help get one of them out of the van. “Hey, Jamie,” he says, and the girl smiles and tries to grab his nose. At seven months, the twins were getting big and adventurous. He brought the girl over to the play area and set her down in the grass so she could crawl around. Her brother quick joined her. “Hey, guys. Glad you could make it.” 

Bucky snorts, “Right, like we’d miss our goddaughter’s birthday party.” 

Thor and Loki show up and Thor’s booming voice is heard above everyone else. “Ah, happy birthday little one! May you have many more!” Kaylee giggles and accepts the present from him. Phil is quick to take it, so she won’t open it. “Ah, Son of Coul, what a lovely day to celebrate your daughter’s birth!” Loki rolls his eyes and flattens his palm over his stomach, he’s five and a half months along, and he cannot wait until he can hold his little girl.

Clint snorts a laugh and turns to talk to Phil’s parents. 

Before long, the party is in full swing. When it is time for cake, they all sing to Kaylee, who smiles brightly from her high chair. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Kaylee, happy birthday to you!” Clint and Phil crouch at either side of Kaylee’s high chair and help her blow out the candle of her smash cake. She happily goes to town at it. Once everyone else is served dessert, Phil gets everyone’s attention.

“Hey, everyone. Clint and I wanted to thank you for coming to Kaylee’s first birthday. You are some of our closest friends and our family, and we couldn’t have gotten to where we are without all of you. So, thank you.” 

Clint speaks up with a smile, “And we hope you continue to stay in our lives when we welcome our next child, in about eight months.” 

Everyone can hardly contain their surprise. Phil turns to look at him, eyes wide in surprise. “You’re pregnant?” Clint smiles and nods. “Oh my God! You’re pregnant!” Clint laughs as Phil pulls him close and kisses him. Everyone claps and cheers. When Phil pulls away, he looks into Clint’s eyes with tears in his own. “You’re really pregnant?” Clint nods, wiping Phil’s tears with his thumbs. “I love, Clint, to the moon and back.” 

_My girl, my girl, my girl. Talkin’ about my girl! My girl._


End file.
